Biography

Growing up in Little Rock, Ark., and attending Arkansas Baptist Elementary and High School, created a love and value of Christian education that I still hold today. I thought as a senior in high school that I wanted to attend a state school, but after visiting OBU for the first time during Homecoming/Tiger Tunes weekend, I was sold on becoming a Tiger! Declaring my major in the Communication Sciences & Disorders department was a calling from God I felt to help others and serve Him through therapy. I loved everything about my college experience and being a student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at OBU. Dr. Hardman and Mrs. Morgan taught core foundations and clinical skills that I needed to become a speech-language pathologist. They showed tough love, had high expectations and trained us for the field to one day be clinical peers. They gave me the opportunity to supervise younger classmates as an upperclassman and instilled in me a love for teaching and training others through my profession. I never thought I would be back teaching alongside them one day! After attending UCA to acquire my master’s degree, I joined the Pediatrics Plus team as an SLP in North Little Rock, Ark. After moving back to Arkadelphia, I transferred to Pediatrics Plus-Arkadelphia, where I filled the role as an evaluator.

Over the past seven years, I have loved getting to help families and children through my profession. Teaching children how to eat, speak for the first time, say correct sounds, use a dedicated device, breastfeed/bottle-feed and various other abilities has been an honor and privilege. The Arkadelphia community has a special place in my heart after getting to walk alongside families in their journey to help their children conquer their world. This same passion and drive to help others translates to helping students and training them to be the best SLP’s through education at OBU. I am honored and humbled to play a small role in teaching students the core foundations and clinical experiences that I once was taught in the same department. Throughout my time as an SLP, I have held various trainings in pediatric feeding, childhood apraxia of speech, Autism Spectrum Disorder and speech sound disorders.

My family and I are members of First Baptist Church Arkadelphia, where I serve as the Children’s Committee Chair. My husband, Jake, and I have been married for seven years and have two beautiful children.