SPEECH THERAPISTS

Emily Minkow

Emily is a speech-language pathologist and a board-certified music therapist. She earned her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Yeshiva University in New York and Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy with a minor in Psychology from The University of Miami in Florida. Emily was the recipient of the “Academic Key of Excellence” at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health. Emily has had a wide array of clinical experiences across the lifespan serving patients from infancy to adulthood. Prior to working in private practice, Emily worked for a public school system in metro Atlanta as an IEP service provider for children aged 3-21. Along with direct patient care, Emily enjoys collaborating with allied healthcare professionals to help clients achieve their full potential in all contexts.

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Melissa Shepherd

Melissa is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University with an undergraduate degree in History. She received a Master’s of Science Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Chapman University.

Melissa’s clinical experience has included working with adults affected by traumatic brain injury, stroke, and degenerative diseases, with therapies specializing in voice, aphasia, and apraxia. In addition, Melissa has experience working with children with a variety of speech and language impairments in both elementary school and high school settings. She has worked on articulation, expressive and receptive language, auditory comprehension and auditory processing skills, working memory, pragmatic language skills, and oral motor skills.

Melissa is trained in PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets). She attended the Introduction to PROMPT Technique workshop and the Bridging Prompt Technique to Intervention workshop. In addition, Melissa is a Hanen-certified speech-language pathologist and has completed the It Takes Two to Talk program, empowering parents to become active participants in their child’s speech and language program.

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Miriam Ohana

Miriam earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology at UC Irvine and later completed her Master’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at California State University, Northridge. Additionally, during my time as a graduate student, she was fortunate to volunteer at the UCLA Speech and Audiology Clinic. She has experience in behavioral therapy, including 7 years in the special education school setting. Throughout her professional career, she has gained valuable experience helping with various types of disorders and behaviors. She is truly passionate about helping children communicate by utilizing their interests as motivators in therapy and enjoys collaborating with families and other professionals to help clients achieve their full potential!

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Caylee Palmisano

Caylee attended University of Iowa where she earned an undergraduate degree in Communications and Science Disorders with a Disability Studies Certificate. She attended Northern Arizona University where she received a Master’s of Science degree in Clinical Speech-Language Pathology and was awarded most outstanding clinician in her class.
Caylee entered the field of speech-language pathology to follow her passion of working with children and to instill confidence in her clients to use their voices for good in the world. She has experience working with children in the clinical and school setting and has worked with many different populations and disorders. She individualizes therapy for each client and family to meet goals and reach full potential. Caylee emphasizes the social-emotional wellbeing of each client through mindfulness practices to ensure self-acceptance, confidence and self-advocacy.
Caylee grew up in Burbank, California and recently moved to Venice. When not working, she enjoys hiking and exploring fitness classes, baking healthy treats, traveling, and exploring the aisles of Target.

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Melanie Alcala

Melanie Alcala graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University with her Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) – Bilingual Extension. She previously attended California State University Fullerton, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Melanie is bilingual (English and Armenian) and passionate about serving culturally and linguistically diverse populations. She has experiences presenting on culturally responsive and evidence-based assessment approaches to language elicitation and analysis of speech-language evaluations, and utilizing student leadership to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in CSD Disciplines at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). In 2019, Melanie was selected for the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) Minority Student Leadership Program (MSLP), a leadership development program. She is excited to be supporting the TP4K community and beyond!

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