Financial assistance is available

If you would like to attend this one-day event but find the cost prohibitive, please reach out to Nic Brow at: nic@friendswhostutter.org 

Join our individualized one-day program!

Young people who stutter

Meet other people who stutter, share challenges and successes, learn about stuttering and ways to increase your confidence, and have fun communicating

Adults who stutter

Share your story, connect, and support young people who stutter across workshops, shared meals, and large group activities

Parents & Caregivers

Learn how to best support your child, meet other caregivers of people who stutter, and share experiences and concerns with people who get it

SLPs & Students

Learn more about stuttering, current therapy practices, and the support available to people who stutter and their families. SLPs earn 0.55 CEUs

Presenters and Facilitators

Nic Brow M.A., CCC-SLP works as a speech language pathologist at the Sisskin Stuttering Center and as the Friends One-Day Events Director. He has worked as a speech therapist within multiple public schools with students from the preschool to high school level. Nic frequently presents on stuttering affirming therapy both nationally and internationally. He predominantly works with youth who stutter and their families, within the framework of Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS®). In his free time, Nic enjoys surfing, pickleball, and spending time with family and friends.

Annick Tumolo M.S., CCC-SLP is a dedicated speech language pathologist with 22 years of experience working in the public schools. She opened up her private practice, Naturally Speaking San Francisco in 2014 and currently splits her time between her private practice and working part-time for the Las Lomitas School District. Since grad school, Annick has been especially interested in the area of stuttering. She was fortunate to have completed Stuttering Foundation’s Eastern Workshop in 2023 and attended Camp Shout Out as an SLP Trainee for four summers. Most recently, Annick helped organize the first annual FRIENDs One Day Conference in the Bay at Las Lomitas Elementary School that included 70+ participants, a project she took on as part of the CSHA Leadership Development Program. Now she is working with her committee to plan the 2nd FRIENDs One Day in the Bay. Additionally, she is the Nor Cal Networking Lead in CSHA’s newly founded School Based SLP Committee. Besides her work, Annick enjoys traveling, playing pickleball, snuggling with her French Bulldog and having fun with family and friends.

Jessica Chizen M.S. CCC-SLP has been practicing as a speech language pathologist in the Bay Area for over a decade. She works at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health in the pediatric outpatient clinic and also has her own private practice in San Francisco seeing children at home and in preschools or private schools. Within both the medical and private practice settings, Jessica enjoys working with children and teenagers who stutter, specifically prioritizing a family-centered approach. Jessica has presented at California Speech Language Hearing Association (CSHA) in the area of stuttering within an episodic model of care. Outside of work, Jessica enjoys discovering new restaurants, new hiking trails, and new bodies of water to swim in.

Lindsey Pollack is a mother, small business owner, and volunteer living in Los Altos. She has had a varied career from astrophysics researcher to Apple program manager to home designer, but by far the thing she is the most passionate about is raising her two amazing and unique children. Her 10 year old son is joyful and outgoing, and has stuttered as long as he has talked. Lindsey is grateful to have learned resilience, compassion and patience on her journey to educating herself about stuttering, supporting her son, and becoming an ally of all people who stutter.

Lisa LaSalle, Ph.D., CCC-SLP has been teaching speech-language pathology coursework and supervising student clinicians for over 30 years. Her clinical and research interests center around developmental stuttering, and she has published widely on childhood stuttering assessment and treatment-related topics and recently on the pharmacological considerations for adults who stutter. Dr. LaSalle is a professor in the Masters-SLP department in the Department of Education and Leadership, and she currently supervises student clinicians and teaches Fluency Disorders, Voice Disorders, and Counseling.

Pei-Tzu Tsai, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, a scholar and educator in speech-language pathology, is particularly interested in stuttering, gender diverse voice and communication, and cultural-linguistic diversity. She teaches courses in fluency, voice and motor speech disorders. Her research focuses on stuttering, voice and gender, treatment effects, diversity, and clinical education. She is the clinical educator of the specialty clinic dedicated to stuttering and transgender voice services at the Kay Armstead Center for Communication Disorders. She works with people of all ages to find their voices, to express and communicate freely. When she is not working, she enjoys spending quality time with her family, hiking, traveling and discovering the little yet important things in life.

Zoi Gkalitsiou, Ph.D., CCC-SLP received a B.S. in Speech-Language Therapy from the Technological Educational Institute of Epirus, Greece, an M.A in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Ph.D. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a licensed speech-language pathologist and has worked in private practice and in school-settings in Greece and in the United States since 2005. Her clinical and research interests include: (1) investigating linguistic and cognitive factors that contribute to disfluent speech, (2) exploring the manifestation of disfluencies in multilingual speakers, and (3) improving evidence-based practice in fluency disorders.

Nina G is a comedian, professional speaker and Disability advocate. She travels the country performing at comedy clubs and colleges and keynoting at conferences. She is part of the comedy troupe The Comedians with Disabilities Act, which brings laughter and awareness to audiences of all ages across the country. Since comedians should never quit their day job, she also works as a counselor for students with disabilities at a California Community College, which she loves almost as much as stand-up comedy. She has contributed to numerous books on stuttering and disability studies, including her own children’s book, Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities and memoir, Stutterer Interrupted: The Comedian Who Almost Didn’t Happen. Nina’s comedy special can be seen on Amazon Prime and other streaming sources. Websites: www.NinaGcomedian.com and www.StuttererInterrupted.com

Sample Schedule

Learning Outcomes

After attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain the relationship between effective intervention and self–esteem for children who stutter.
• Describe the need for a management approach to childhood stuttering that includes parents, professionals and support networks.
• Identify specific social and clinical strategies for supporting children and their families.

Friends Accommodation Statement

Friends is committed to providing accessible programming in accordance with ASHA standards and our values of inclusion and equity. Accommodation requests will be reviewed individually, and we will make every effort to meet those needs based on available resources.

To request accommodations or ask questions, please contact Nic Brow at nic@friendswhostutter.org at least 5 days in advance.