The Speech Source

In this episode,  Kim and Mary talk with Ashlyn Wimmer, founder of Lighthouse Therapy Center and Lighthouse School of Fort Worth, to talk about how one mother’s experience navigating autism services led to the creation of a unique therapy and education center in Fort Worth.

After her son Graham was diagnosed with autism, Ashlyn quickly realized that many families are forced to choose between ABA therapy and academic education. When she was told during a school tour that her son was essentially too special needs for the program, she knew something needed to change.

On...

In this episode of the Setting Up for Success series, Mary and Kim talk about documentation! Love it or hate it, your documentation system can either drain your time or save it. Mary and Kim walk listeners through how they’ve simplified their approach to notes while still meeting all the necessary requirements—and keeping parents in the loop.

They share how their practice uses Simple Practice, a digital EMR system they love for its features and flexibility. But instead of typing up detailed SOAP notes after every session, they often use a paper-based daily note that doub...

In this episode of The Speech Source Podcast, Mary and Kim continue their policies and procedures discussion by highlighting the critical forms every private practice should have—starting with HIPAA and confidentiality forms. They explain the importance of protecting client information under HIPAA law.  HIPAA is all about consent—only those directly involved in a child's care, and specifically named by the parent, can have access to information. Mary and Kim share real-world examples, like collaborating with dentists, teachers, and occupational therapists, and stress how easy it is for casual conversations to cross a line without proper signed permissions. To he...

In Part 2 of our Setting Up for Success series, Mary and Kim explore the importance of having a comprehensive and clearly defined photo and video release form in pediatric speech therapy practice. They emphasize that a simple yes/no checkbox on a consent form isn’t enough—parents need clarity about why media might be used and the specific ways their child’s images or videos could be shared. Providing this context not only helps parents make informed decisions, but also protects therapists legally and supports ethical, transparent practice.

Throughout the episode, Kim and Mary break down the ma...

In this episode of The Speech Source Podcast, Mary and Kim talk about why having strong attendance and cancellation policies is key to running a successful private speech therapy practice. These policies aren't just paperwork, they help support your mission, set clear expectations, and ensure clients make steady progress. They also bring consistency and professionalism, especially when working with multiple families or team members.

Mary and Kim share how using systems like Simple Practice allows them to customize policies, send reminders, and make sure families truly understand what they’re signing. They recommend encouraging families to review th...

In this episode Kim and Mary welcome special guest Daj Mitchell (@yourSLPDaj) to join in a conversation on podcasting with purpose. Together, they explore how podcasting can serve as a tool for business growth, collaboration, and audience engagement. Daj shares insights on her journey as a speech-language pathologist and entrepreneur, explaining how her podcast Co-Treat Corner was born from a desire to improve collaboration within therapy fields. The conversation touches on different podcasting styles, from solo hosting to co-hosting, and the skills required for effective interviewing.

The episode also delves into podcasting as a marketing strategy, emphasizing...

Kim and Mary wrap up this season of Changing the Game by featuring Taylor Paladino, an artist and entrepreneur whose story is as captivating as his art.

Taylor shares his story from growing up on a farm in Arkansas to attending Stanford, and eventually launching his successful art business.  Taylor’s business began as a hobby during a transitional period in his life. What started as small watercolor paintings sold to friends quickly evolved into greeting cards and other products. Selling this art at farmer's markets during the pandemic eventually led to partnerships with major retailers like the...

In this episode of The Speech Source Podcast, hosts Kim and Mary talk with Kate Murphy, the founder of Nanda Yoga in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kate shares her incredible journey, beginning with her early involvement with movement as a gymnast, dancer, and cheerleader, and her discovery of yoga in college. After earning her children’s yoga certification in 2007, she dreamed of creating a space combining her love for children and movement. While living and traveling in Europe and experiencing several jobs that shaped this dream, she eventually landed a job working as a child life specialist in pe...

In this episode, Kim and Mary interview Mallory Dougherty, founder of Glitter&Gold, a unique jewelry and accessories business.  Mallory grew up in a small town near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and later studied advertising and marketing at the University of South Carolina. Her career took unexpected turns, from selling wedding gowns to discovering her passion for accessories that transform simple outfits into statement looks. Inspired by her bridal styling days, Mallory launched Glitter&Gold, a brand that reflects her love for unique, curated pieces and her commitment to supporting small businesses.

Mallory’s approach to sourcing and selling jew...

In episode 9 of The Speech Source podcast, hosts Kim and Mary are joined by  sisters MaryAnn Means-Dufrene and Emily McAnelly who share their story into the world of podcasting and self-discovery. Together, they recently launched The Great Noticing Podcast, encouraging listeners to pause, observe, and engage more deeply with the world around them.

MaryAnn shares how a casual conversation nine years ago planted the seeds for The Great Noticing. Emily recalls being invited into this dream by MaryAnn, noting her initial hesitation but expressing admiration for her sister’s vision and leadership. 

For MaryAnn and Emil...

In this episode of our Changing the Game season, Meg Minter, founder of Studio of Movemint, shares her journey from competitive dancer to transformative studio owner in Fort Worth, Texas. Growing up in the world of competitive dance, Meg witnessed many challenges, from body image pressures to extreme competitiveness, that shaped her desire to create a different kind of dance environment: a safe, positive space where kids can experience movement, grow in confidence, and form genuine connections.

Starting from scratch in Fort Worth with no initial clientele, Meg and her husband took a leap of faith. They...

In this episode of the Speech Source Podcast, hosts Kim and Mary sit down with Sarah Calk, the creative mind behind Sadl's Designs. Sarah shares how her need to a creative outlet sparked a business that has grown alongside her journey as a mom, wife, and full-time professional. From learning to sew with her mom to creating custom pillows for designers and homes in Fort Worth, Sarah’s story beautifully illustrates the balance between creativity and life’s changing seasons.

Sarah began sewing as a creative outlet during the newborn phase with her first son. Want...

In this episode, Kim and Mary interview Sabrina Gebhardt with Sabrina Gebhardt Photography, a talented photographer, educator, and entrepreneur, who shares her journey from corporate America to launching a thriving photography business. Sabrina discusses how she balances motherhood, creative growth, business expansion, and personal well-being, offering valuable insights for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs.

Sabrina’s passion for photography began early in life, growing up with parents who valued the art form. Her mother captured family moments, while her father focused on landscapes, both of which inspired her love for photography. However, she set the camera aside during co...

In this episode, Kim and Mary interview the talented Katie Murray of "Katie Paintbrush," an artist, muralist, and teacher who's made a name for herself both locally in Fort Worth and nationally. Katie shares her journey from a passion for art that began as early as kindergarten to eventually establishing her own business, working on stunning murals and curating art projects.

Katie’s career path is full of twists and turns. She initially studied fashion merchandising, then switched to architecture before eventually earning her degree in graphic design. Her love for art, combined with her fascination for ge...

In this episode, Kim and Mary talk with Betsy Beaman, the owner of BBeamanStylist, a personal stylist and consultant business. Betsy shares her journey from working in the nonprofit sector to creating her own styling business, offering valuable insights into the challenges and joys of entrepreneurship. She discusses how her early career in communications and donor relations, particularly her time at the Presbyterian Night Shelter, pushed her outside her comfort zone and provided life lessons that shaped her passion for helping women express themselves through style. Betsy emphasizes that her approach to fashion goes beyond following trends—it's about fi...

Brittany Voxland and Samantha Drumm are friends turned business partners in Fort Worth, Texas. Realizing their complementary skill sets, they merged their businesses, combining Brittany’s social media expertise with Samantha’s branding and website skills to form Project Social. This transition from friends to business partners wasn’t planned, but it felt natural, providing them with the energy and motivation to stay creative and driven. They emphasize the importance of “leaning into what felt right” as a key factor in their success.

Both women come from corporate backgrounds, with Brittany working in HR and Samantha in government...

In this episode, we chat with the inspiring Abby Henegan, a wife, mom, and registered ICU nurse turned entrepreneur. Abby shares her journey from nursing school to owning her own aesthetics business, focusing on the challenges she faced, how she finds balance between her work and personal life, and her philosophy behind aesthetics.

By fostering an environment of kindness and genuine care, Abby sets a high standard in the aesthetics industry, ensuring that her clients leave feeling truly confident and beautiful. She emphasizes that aesthetics is more of an art than a science and took time to...

What happens when you blend creativity with entrepreneurship in a thriving community? This season on the Speech Source Podcast, we uncover the untold stories of some of Fort Worth's innovative and creative small business owners.

We’re excited to introduce you to a lineup of entrepreneurs who are redefining what it means to run a community-focused small business. From startups to well-established enterprises, these individuals face challenges and celebrate triumphs that resonate with anyone who's ever pursued a passion. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a dreamer, or simply someone who loves inspiring stories, this episode sets the stage fo...

Tune in for our very last episode of this season's "How I Made My Speech Path Business" with hosts Mary Brezik and Kim Dillon.  This episode shines a spotlight on Mary's personal journey in starting her own private practice. With a background rich in healthcare and creative arts, Mary recognized the need for a more balanced approach between her professional ambitions and family life after a decade in a clinical setting. Her business philosophy is a more personalized, concierge-style practice that focuses on practical, everyday therapy integrated into the children's routines, specifically in the areas of feeding and swallowing.  

This has been such a fun season of The Speech Source Podcast!  As we wrap up our season of How I Made My Speech Path Business, Kim and Mary each take a turn in the interviewee seat and talk about how they themselves have built their own private practices. 

First up was Kim Dillon talking about her private speech practice.  Kim shares about the beginnings of her career, which started from what she thought was a babysitting job but led her to the field of speech pathology. Over the years, she transitioned from traditional employment to establish a f...

In this epside, hosts Kim and Mary welcom Jena Castro-Casbon, a speech therapist with her own private practice and creator of the Start Your Private Practice and Grow Your Private Practice programs. Jena shares her journey into the field of speech therapy, initially inspired by her father's experiences with stuttering and his positive feedback about speech therapy.  Despite her early aspirations to become an FBI agent, this personal connection led her to pursue speech pathology, and eventually creating The Independent Clinician. 

Jena credits her father's business mind for sparking her entrepreneurial spirit, leading her to start her ow...

In this episode, Kim and Mary talk with Rachael Baethge as she shares how she created a flexible and sustainable business model that accommodates her roles as a mom and a speech therapist. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing personal and professional limits to avoid burnout, ensuring she remains effective in all her roles—business owner, mom, and speech therapist. Rachael highlights the value of sustainable growth over rapid expansion, accepting that not all goals need to be achieved immediately.

Transitioning from contracting in schools to starting her own business  (Texas Speech Mom) and later a private pra...

In this podcast episode, hosts Kim and Mary talk with Sydney Bassard, known as The Listening SLP, who shares her intriguing journey from a public health undergraduate to a successful speech therapist and entrepreneur. Sydney discusses her initial career aspiration in pharmacy, which shifted after a impactful summer at a literacy center. This experience, combined with her brother's ADHD and dyslexia diagnosis, steered her towards speech-language pathology.  Sydney's professional path was notably marked by her significant involvement in research and a key role on a cochlear implant team at a children's hospital, before she returned to her hometown, Charlotte, N...

In this episode of the Speech Source Podcast, hosts Mary Brezik and Kim Dillon, interview SLP Erin Larson, the dynamic force behind Speech Tea. Erin shares her fascinating journey from aspiring pharmacist to passionate speech therapist. 

Erin's career took shape in a private practice setting, where she faced the challenge of working at a new, under-resourced location. This experience spurred her creativity, leading her to start making her own materials and eventually putting her creations on her own Teachers Pay Teachers Page. Through hard work and dedication, Erin built a successful TPT store, emphasizing the importance of a...

Kim and Mary get to sit down for a second time for insight, ideas, tips and laughs with the incredible Lindsey Hockel, SLP and founder of Speechy Things.  We've had her on previously to talk about all things "R," but this time she talks us through how she went from her clinical fellowship to digital resource and course creator and niching down in the field of speech pathology.

The Path to Speechy Things: Lindsey’s journey began almost by chance. Initially a clinical fellow at a clinic, the idea for "Speechy Things" popped into her min...

This episode will have you captivated, motivated and in awe!  Kim and Mary feature Barbara Fernandes, an SLP, author, CEO of Smarty Ears and Smarty Symbols, advocate, and educator.  To say she has taken her business and created something so unique and on her own terms is an understatement.  She is a testament that staying true to who you are and on the path that you believe in will create a life full of joy and meaning.  

Barbara's educational journey began in Brazil, where she pursued speech-language pathology. She moved to the US as part of an exch...

In this episode, hosts Mary Brezik and Kim Dillon discuss all things AAC, podcasting (The Speechie Side Up Podcast), presenting and more with guest Venita Litvack, a speech therapist and entrepreneur. Venita details her progression in specializing in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and her eventual roles including an AAC consultant (where she helped numerous SLPs get insurance approvals for devices) and an assistive technology specialist. She shares her experiences in private practice, exploring various areas of speech therapy before returning to her passion for AAC.  Venita also discussed co-authoring a book focused on social stories and the a...

SLP Annie Gist joins us this week to share her remarkable journey from an employee to a proud owner of the speech therapy practice, Play on Words.  After working for a private practice for several years, Annie was staying home with her 2 little girls and living the mom life when she found herself in a position as a single mom needing to bring in income.  Annie shares about the growth from seeing kids in her neighborhood to running a successful brick-and-mortar practice in an old home that offers a curiosity for kids and endless language opportunities.  It's a path tha...

Ashley Christensen, an experienced speech language pathologist with a background in educational settings, leveraged her expertise to create My Magic Words Speech Sound Academy, a digital speech course born out of a successful Zoom session.  The name of the program stems from affirmations she would consistently use at the beginning of each speech session with her students, which were a central part of her teaching approach. In episode 6 of our "How I Built My Speech Path Business,"  Ashley shares the comprehensive journey of developing and launching her digital course. She discusses the process of filming content, marketing, and th...

In our 6th episode of this season's "How I Built My Speech Path Business," Kim and Mary talk to Jenna Rayburn Kirk, a pioneer in the world of digital creation and blogging and owner of Speech Room News. Her story begins in graduate school, with a literacy intervention program that set the stage for her online venture.   Working as an SLP in the schools for many years, Jenna has created hundreds of resources that can be accessed by other speech therapists.  As she shares her experiences, you'll learn how crucial it is to keep publishing and nurturing connections within th...

On this episode of the series "How I Built my Speech Path Business," we talk with SLP Jacey Bullock.  Jacey spent the beginning of her career as a speech therapist in the school setting, and once she became pregnant with her 3rd child, she knew she wanted to create an opportunity for herself that would allow more time with her children while still using her passion and knowledge as a therapist.  What started as testing out the waters seeing a couple of kids privately quickly turned into a full blown speech therapy clinic with several speech therapists working with an...

Whitney McMullin joins us on the Speech Source Podcast with an insightful conversation that shares her experience of balancing contract work with the entrepreneurial spirit. She discusses how she sidestepped the pressures of productivity quotas to craft a career that's both fulfilling and flexible. Her journey is a testament to setting boundaries that work with her dual role as a clinician and mother.

We discuss contracting with companies, her unique hybrid approach with ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) and a mobile private practice, the importance of knowing personal clinical strengths and when to refer out to other clinicians...

In this episode, we talk with speech pathologist Belle Ormiston about her journey in blending creativity with the discipline of speech pathology. Belle's entry into entrepreneurship began as an endeavor to fill a gap she observed in the market during the global pandemic—an absence of merchandise that connected and appealed to speech therapy professionals.

The creation of her product line, Bee the SLP, marked the beginning of a new chapter.  Continuing as a full time speech therapist at a local pediatric hospital in her city, Belle is balancing her day to day work with entrepreneurship.  Finding a co...

In the first episode of our new series "How I Built My Speech Path Business," we talk to pediatric speech pathologist Marcia Church.  Over the last few years, Marcia has built her private practice in the Dallas, Texas area called Pediatric Speech Stars.  Not only has she grown her pediatric private speech practice into a thriving business, but she has also created resources for other speech pathologists to successfully market and brand their own business, as well as an online retail shop with cute apparel for speech therapists! 

Pediatric Speech Stars provides families with direct speech therapy ser...

As a speech therapist, have you ever been curious about the entrepreneurial world?  This season, we are so excited to bring you a line up of remarkable professionals who've taken that leap. From clinic owners to digital innovators, hear firsthand accounts of how these passionate and driven individuals manage to create a dream that becomes success.

Get ready to be inspired by the stories of our guests, each sharing a distinct narrative of how they've carved their unique paths in creating their business. You will hear about successes, challenges, insights and dreams.  These conversations will kindle a re...

It's been such a fun and exciting season with great topics and interesting guests.  Listen to Episode 67 to hear clips from some of our favorites, and a little reflection from Kim and Mary about why we really enjoyed these episodes.

Episodes we talk about:

58. The Movement Mama:  Kailee Noland
60. What is Apraxia of Speech
61. How to Motivate Kids
62. Sara Lopez
63. Love Languages for Kids
64. First Words
65. Dietician Emily French 

Thanks for listening and being a part of our passion and community of sharing knowledge and stories in the...

Oral Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) is all about the interconnectedness of eating, speaking, and sleeping. Yes - these things are all related! Discover how common issues like pacifier use, mouth breathing, and tongue ties can shake this delicate balance. We dive into the importance of proper nasal breathing and touch on structural issues such as enlarged tonsils and tongue ties, reinforcing why understanding this interconnectedness is both important for children's overall health as well as their outcomes in therapy. Listen for real-talk on OMT and whether it's the right fit for a child.

Also, if you haven't done...

Today's guest is Emily French, registered dietician, co-owner of RDs for Little Eaters, and mother of two.  As a working mother with two children, she is in the thick of it with activities, appointments, and a busy lifestyle! She gets it when it comes to what it takes to have healthy eating habits on the go. Emily shares her biggest tips and tricks to helping children have healthy eating habits and a good relationship with food.

Emily shares her family's personal balance of sugar intake in order to support her children's different nutritional needs and tolerances. She h...

What are the most common first words?  How do those words become phrases and sentences?  Kim and Mary talk through the process of how children learn to talk and make a very complicated process simple. Join us to learn about how you can help teach your child their first words and sentences!

Link to resources for moving through our First Words plan
First Words Bundle by Speech Source | TPT (teacherspayteachers.com)

For more information on speech, language, feeding and play visit The Speech Source and follow us on Instagram @thespeechsource.

Also, if yo...

Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell's book "The 5 Love Languages of Children: The Secret to Loving Children Effectively" is a great book for anyone who works with children. Love languages are not a foreign concept to most adults in relationships, but have you ever thought about your children having their own love languages? Knowing your child or patient's love language empowers you to better comprehend your child's unique needs, and respond in a way that fosters a deeper bond and accelerates their development. Not to mention provides so much of the answer to how to motivate, celebrate, or discipline in...