Speech Language Pathologists at The Speech & Stuttering Institute are truly exceptional in their abilities and talents. They are all highly educated and trained in various methods of treatment for both children and adults. Many of our SLP’s are also involved in research and training endeavours.
Natalia Aroca-Ouellette, M.Sc., SLP, Reg. CASLPO, Speech-Language Pathologist
Natalia Aroca-Ouellette received her Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of British Columbia. She has previous experience working with the assessment and treatment of children in the areas of articulation, phonology, motor speech, language and social communication. She practices bilingually in English and French to serve the needs of families. At The Speech & Stuttering Institute, she works with preschool children who have speech production difficulties. She ensures therapy is engaging and motivating by involving caregivers and using evidence-based practice in all steps of assessment and therapy. Natalia has always maintained a strong interest in pursuing continuous education opportunities and is trained in the Lidcombe program and Hanen Certified (It Takes Two to Talk and More Than Words).
Lea Ayuyao, M.Sc.,Reg. CASLPO, S-LP (C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Lea J. Ayuyao received her Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of British Columbia. She has worked in the areas of neurorehabilitation for stroke survivors and individuals with closed head injury. Throughout her clinical practice, Lea has always maintained a strong interest in the fluency population and was excited to join the team at The Speech & Stuttering Institute in 2008. At SSI, Lea works with school-aged children and adults who stutter. Lea has been a CASLPO mentor, clinical educator and guest lecturer in the graduate department of Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Toronto. Lea is trained in the Lidcombe Program, Fluency Plus Program, Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Level 1 Prompt.
Elissa Flagg, M.H.Sc., Ph.D., Reg. CASLPO, SLP(C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Elissa joined The Speech & Stuttering Institute in 2013 after receiving her Master of Health Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. Prior to becoming a registered Speech-Language Pathologist, Elissa earned a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Toronto/University Health Network, and taught Linguistics. At The Speech & Stuttering Institute, Elissa has worked with children and their families as an SLP in the Children’s Speech Therapy Program, creating individualized therapy programs to help children with speech production and motor speech difficulties to improve their communication skills. Elissa has also served as Program Evaluator for The Speech & Stuttering Institute’s MCCSS-funded provincial training programs
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Allie Gallinger, M.Cl.Sc. SLP, Reg. CASLPO, Speech Language Pathologist
Allie received her Masters of Clinical Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Western University. She has previous experience with the assessment and treatment of children in private practice in the areas of fluency, articulation, language and social communication. Allie has always had a special interest in working with people who stutter. At The Speech & Stuttering Institute, Allie works with preschool and school age children who stutter through evidence based fluency assessment and treatment. Allie involves caregivers in all steps of assessment and therapy and ensures that therapy is fun, motivating and engaging. She is trained in Lidcombe, Fluency Plus, and PROMPT level 1.
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Nicole Howe, M.Sc., S-LP (C), Reg. CASLPO, Speech-Language Pathologist
Nicole received her Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of British Columbia in 2011. She has spent her entire career working with preschoolers and school-aged children, in various health-care and community settings, both publicly and privately. Nicole always had a keen interest in fluency, since completing a graduating project on stuttering as a student. Nicole joined The Speech & Stuttering Institute’s team in 2023 in the preschool fluency program, and enjoys working with preschool-aged children who stutter, and their parents and caregivers. She is trained in Lidcombe, PROMPT Introduction and Bridging, and is Hanen Certified (It Takes Two to Talk, More Than Words, Target Word). Nicole has also has completed training through The Speech & Stuttering Institute’s programs for preschool stuttering.
Marni Kinder, M.H. Sc., Reg. CASLPO, S-LP (C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Marni received her Master of Health Sciences degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. Marni has always had a passion for working with people who stutter. Since joining The Speech & Stuttering Institute in 2008, she has worked extensively with children, teens and adults who stutter to provide evidence-based fluency treatment in both individual therapy and intensive or weekly group therapy formats. She is motivated to help individuals who stutter achieve not only fluency, but comfort and confidence in every day speaking situations. Since 2008, Marni has been a Clinical Educator and Guest Lecturer for the University of Toronto and has provided fluency training workshops for clinicians. She is trained in Lidcombe, Fluency Plus, Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and PROMPT.
Michele Meloche-Kelly, M.Sc.,Reg. CASLPO, S-LP (C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Michele received her B. Sc. in Child Psychology from McGill University and her M. Sc in Audiology and Speech Sciences from the University of British Columbia. Michele has experience assessing and treating speech and language disorders in the preschool and school-aged population. Prior to joining SSI, she worked in the areas of French Immersion and Core French programs, Cleft Palate, as well as research. As a clinician, Michele finds helping children who present with motor speech, speech production and language difficulties greatly rewarding. As Clinical Coordinator for the Preschool Program, she is involved with intake, program planning and acting as liaison with community partners and families.
Mindy Ravinsky, M.Sc.(A), Reg. CASLPO, S-LP(C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Mindy received her Masters of Science (Applied) degree in Speech-Language Pathology at McGill University. At The Speech & Stuttering Institute she works with preschool children who have motor speech difficulties. Mindy enjoys working with children in small groups where she is able to integrate speech, language, and social interaction skills within story-related activities that include role playing story scripts. Mindy divides her time between The Speech & Stuttering Institute and our University of Toronto satellite clinic, where she runs therapy groups and supervises student clinicians. Mindy provides a consultation service for GTA speech-language pathologists who request assistance with programming for children with motor-speech difficulties.
Lori Scott-Sulsky, M.Sc.,Reg. CASLPO, S-LP (C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Lori has been providing treatment in the area of stuttering for more than 20 years. She has worked intensively to develop group and individual treatment programs for children, adolescents and adults who stutter. She is the co-author of The Fluency Plus Program: A Comprehensive Treatment Program for Stuttering and has been published in Guitar and MacCauley’s current stuttering text book. A graduate of McGill University, Lori received her training in fluency at the Montreal General Hospital and the Montreal Fluency Centre and completed her Master’s thesis on the speech-gesture relationship in children who stutter. Lori is a consortium trained practitioner of the Lidcombe Program for young children who stutter and has received training in the Palin Parent-Child Interaction Program. She currently serves as the lead clinician on the Preschool Fluency Project engaged in clinician training, research, and consultation to the Ministry of Child and Youth Services. In addition to her clinical practice, Lori enjoys serving as a fluency mentor, clinical educator in fluency, and providing advanced fluency training workshops for practicing clinicians.
Carolyn Spavor, M.H.Sc., SLP(C), Reg. CASLPO, Speech-Language Pathologist
During her 18 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist, Carolyn has accompanied hundreds of children living with communication challenges. She first came to The Speech & Stuttering Institute as part of her graduate studies program and has nurtured a particular interest in speech sound disorders ever since. Carolyn has pursued additional clinical training in this area (including PROMPT) and is always on the lookout for new and creative ways to apply this knowledge and skill. She has extensive experience in supporting children and youth who experience other complexities that impact their speech sound learning, such as autism, attention deficit disorder, and anxiety. Her efforts to better understand the barriers that many face in accessing appropriate, effective and timely speech therapy services have taken her into neighbourhoods across Toronto and as far afield as Yukon Territory and Ethiopia. Carolyn graduated with a Master of Health Science degree from the University of Toronto’s Speech-Language Pathology program and now enjoys supporting the next generation of students as an Adjunct Lecturer in the department.
Dana Wolle, M.Sc.(A), Reg. CASLPO, S-LP (C), Speech-Language Pathologist
Dana Wolle is a registered Speech-Language Pathologist who has extensive experience working with children of all ages. She received her M.Sc. in Speech-Language Pathology from McGill University in 2003. Dana spent five years working for Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services, where she gained broad clinical experience in the areas of receptive and expressive language disorders as well as speech disorders. She enjoyed working with a very diverse range of children, including special needs populations, from birth to 5 years of age. In late 2005, she began a five month secondment at The Speech & Stuttering Institute. In 2008, Dana officially joined the SSI team on a part-time basis. She currently splits her time between the School-Age Program and seeing preschool children in the community through the partnership with Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services. Dana is trained in PROMPT and is Hanen Certified.
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Debbie Leung, M.A., CCC-SLP, Reg. CASLPO, Speech-Language Pathologist
Debbie received her Master of Arts degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toledo. She has experience with the assessment and treatment of children in the areas of fluency, language, articulation, motor speech, literacy, and social communication in outpatient pediatric clinic, school board, and private practice settings. Debbie has always had a special interest in working with children who stutter. At The Speech & Stuttering Institute, she works with preschool and school-age children who stutter. Debbie is trained in the Lidcombe Program, Introduction to PROMPT Technique, and is Hanen Certified (It Takes Two To Talk). She has also completed training through The Speech & Stuttering Institute’s indirect approach for preschool stuttering. Debbie speaks English, Cantonese, and Mandarin.
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Amar Lallh, M.Sc., SLP(C), Reg. CASLPO, Speech-Language Pathologist
Amar has been passionate about providing service for clients who stutter throughout her career. She received training in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Alberta, where she completed her research based Master’s degree. She has experience working with preschool and school age children and teens who stutter, along with their families, within a regional stuttering therapy program. She has also held several clinical and leadership positions at Ontario’s largest children’s treatment centre, where her most recent role involved bringing evidence-based best practice to the preschool speech and language program. Amar is trained in the Lidcombe program (preschool and school-age adaptation), Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and The Speech & Stuttering Institute’s Indirect Treatment protocol. She has also attended the Stuttering Foundation of America’s Western Workshop for children who stutter.