Today we’d like to introduce you to Angie Ellenbecker.
Hi Angie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Angie Ellenbecker MS, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist, certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) since 2008. She graduated from Minnesota State Moorhead in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Speech, Language, Hearing Science. She received a Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, in 2007.
She worked for the Clark County School District, Las Vegas, NV, for eight years (2002-2010) as a school-based Speech Therapist. She founded Talk to Me Speech Therapy in Las Vegas, NV, in 2008, as a speech-language pathologist and administrator over ten speech-language-pathologists and occupational therapists. In 2016, Ms. Angie franchised her company to the Nashville area in Tennessee. She has 25 years of experience providing speech-language services to a diverse population of clients between the ages of two through teenagers in clinical, home, and school settings. She has experience working with many disorders: non-verbal children whom use augmentative alternative communication (AAC), auditory processing problems, sensory oral dysphagia, aphasia, apraxia, articulation/phonology, receptive/expressive language disorders, myofunctional (tongue thrust), traumatic brain injury, cognitive communication, fluency/stuttering, vocal nodule voice disorders, and executive function difficulties. She has worked extensively with populations with autism, emotional disturbances, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and children in foster care.
Talk to Me Speech Therapy in the Nashville area has expanded from one therapist in 2019 to more than 25 therapists, including speech therapists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists in 2025. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to build a business during the pandemic.
Ms. Angie is a clinical provider for the Barton Reading, Spelling, and Dyslexia Program. It is an evidenced-based reading intervention for struggling readers and English Language Learners. The reading program is for: struggling readers, English Learners, Dyslexia, Auditory Processing, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or Children who qualify for special education services.
In 2019, Ms. Angie was certified as a Preferred Trainer with LDS & Associates for Accent Reduction/Modification Therapy. An accent may become an issue when it interferes with communication and affects the individual’s professional success and future opportunities. This therapy program is designed to assist in English as a Second Language (ESL), people with strong accents, and people that are difficult to understand, to speak with a Standard American English Accent. This therapy is geared to helping people communicate clearly. Individual, small, medium, and large group classes are available. This program may also be available over Skype or Facetime for distance learners, or people that have difficult work schedules.
In addition, Ms. Angie currently serves as a standing member of the National Advisory Committee for PRAXIS Teaching Students Language Impairments, PRAXIS Test Development Standing Committee Member, and independent contracted test writer for PRAXIS for Educational Testing Services (ETS). She has also been a part-time instructor for Nevada State University, and Clinical Supervisor for speech therapy practicum students in Las Vegas, NV. She has piloted language programs for Super Duper Publications, and contracted as a standardized test developer for Western Psychological Services.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Talk to Me Speech Therapy in the Nashville area was founded in May of 2019. Nine months later, the world-wide pandemic hit, and we had to think outside of the box! At that time, we had one speech therapist and one occupational therapist. We moved all the children to teletherapy services for the first few months, and trying to get toddlers to maintain attention to online therapy is a difficult task most days! There were times where I had less than $100 in the bank. Once we moved back into the office, we started expanding quickly due to the high demand for speech therapy and occupational therapy in the Madison area. We have had to do many construction build outs as the business expanded, and we moved locations three times in the past six years to find a building we could keep expanding into. I did the “if you build it, they will come” approach and rented more space than what we needed so we could keep expanding. We finally found the unicorns, I mean, pediatric physical therapists, to join our clinic.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We offer pediatric speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy to children and young adults. We have some adult patients also. When I started this company, I wanted to create a community with the families we work with, a safe place for parents to bring their children, and meet other families that understand their challenges of having children with special needs. I also wanted to create a magical place for the children. Throughout the clinic, there are fairies, gnomes, dragons, dinosaurs, princesses, and other magical creatures. We have two sensory gyms to accommodate the sensory needs of children with autism, and children with gross and fine motor difficulties. I have a team that are passionate about their jobs, and really care about making a positive change in children’s lives. We also noticed a significant need for a reading program to help children with reading and spelling difficulties. We are very proud of the results we are seeing. We also work with several different AAC Device companies so limited and non-verbal children have an opportunity to learn to communicate with a device with a verbal output and it gives the child a VOICE.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We have a lot of new therapists that are always looking for toys to use as therapy materials. Appropriate referrals for services are always welcome.
Pricing:
- We take all insurances, including Medicaid.
- Out of Pocket Appointments are $60 per half hour session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://talktometn.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AbpoU9KUh/?mibextid=wwXlfr
