Nancy Barcal, the director of Granite Bay Speech, has been the chapter leader for the Sacramento and Roseville National Stuttering Association (NSA) group for years. She hosts a local website for the Sactovalley NSA group and promotes public awareness through frequent presentations to the community. Nancy has been a longtime supporter of the NSA and hosted her first NSA meeting in Fremont, California in 1983.
Granite Bay Speech has partnered with Bayside Church for multiple events. These include events with the homeschool group and the Disability, Health and Wellness fair, during Better Speech and Hearing month. Granite Bay Speech provided information on treatment and prevention; learning disabilities, and how to identify speech and language difficulties with your child.
Nancy Barcal, our director, has given numerous presentations for the students at Sacramento State University. Nancy has also presented at several CSUS conferences for Speech Therapists and aspiring speech therapists. She has provided information about stuttering and cluttering, and effective therapy for people who stutter.
Nancy Barcal, our director, wrote several chapters in a published workbook for college students titled, “Clinical Workbook for Speech Language Pathologist Assistants”. Nancy submitted chapters in the book which discussed voice and fluency disorders, activities for stuttering, and different ways to use apps to help clients who stutter.
Nancy Barcal was asked to speak at the DMV headquarters in Sacramento. Nancy spoke to the employees about how to appropriately and effectively communicate with people who stutter or clutter. Kimberli and Nancy provided time afterwards to answer any questions the employees had.
Granite Bay Speech opens their doors to college students who are pursuing a career in Speech Pathology or those who may just be curious about the field. Granite Bay Speech interns sit in and view sessions, help prepare for sessions, and have full access to the therapists who are more than willing to answer any questions.
Granite Bay Speech has supported ATOU and matched donations of the first 20 people who donated to ATOU on the Big Day of Giving! ATOU helps stop bullying from communication and learning differences! The ATOU program provides essential support for individuals who experience communication and learning challenges. ATOU has shared information about autism, social language skills, stuttering and learning disabilities through in-school workshops.
Granite Bay Speech partnered with the Roseville Theater Arts Academy on their class called Kids Speaking Out. It is a communication and anti-bullying program. The program had two purposes:
1) Decrease bullying by educating the public about communication needs in the community
2) Provide opportunities for children to practice communication skills in a safe, non-judgmental environment
Granite Bay Speech has donated to the California Speech Language and Hearing Association for the “Better Speech and Hearing” night at the Rivercats game in Sacramento. Our clients were able to attend the game for free and enjoy all of the activities.
Granite Bay Speech has partnered with the Love-Talk-Read program and we have donated over 600 books for their book drive. Books will happily be placed in the hands of at-risk children in under-resourced environments throughout Sacramento and across the world.
Nancy and Kimberli presented at a FEAT conference in Sacramento. They spoke to the parents and helped them to understand the process of learning to communicate and provided ideas from infancy through adulthood.
Nancy Barcal provided an interview on KLOVE radio discussing her speech therapy practice in Roseville.
Nancy has provided several interviews for different newspapers and radio stations. Nancy was excited to do one in particular. This interview was for a young Carmichael teen, Elliot Drake-Maurer. He was a teenage boy who stuttered and was doing his best to spread awareness to the community about people who stutter.
Nancy shared helpful techniques for working with children who stutter with SLPs and SLPAs from the San Juan Unified School District. Those in attendance were provided with therapy materials, app recommendations, and videos of clients in therapy.
Nancy visited the Parkinson’s groups of Maidu and El Dorado Hills to share information about the benefits of the SpeechEasyPD device for speech affected by Parkinson’s disease. Following the presentation group members were given the opportunity to experience the benefits of the SpeechEasyPD device using FluencyCoach, an app developed to allow people to try the effects of SpeechEasyPD at no cost. With one-on-one instruction using the FluencyCoach app, group members noticed improvement in vocal loudness, rate of pausing, speech clarity, and thought organization.
Nancy gave a presentation on how to identify stuttering and explained what stuttering is. Nancy shared helpful techniques for working with children who stutter with SLPs and SLPAs from the Western Placer Unified School District. Those in attendance were provided with therapy materials, app recommendations, and videos of clients in therapy.
Nancy worked alongside a previous client who stutters as she worked on her Girl Scout Gold Award to show the effects of someone who stutters.
Nancy had a booth during the Kings Speech movie premier promoting stuttering awareness.
When I Stutter is a documentary exploring the effects of stuttering on people’s lives. An interactive panel of speakers, including Granite Bay Speech Director, Nancy Barcal, and Director of the film, John Gomez, followed the movie. Event sponsored by Granite Bay Speech.
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