When Children Speak, ...
Chandler Speaks Listens
Chandler Speaks is a nonprofit which has been quickly making a name for itself in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Its mission amounts to increasing the health, wellness and prospects of underserved schoolchildren. It has done that by helping provide low- or no-cost speech-language pathology (SLP) services for financially-disadvantaged youth and peer support for their families. President and Board of Directors Treasurer Bryce Moen, MBA, CPA, founded the charity after his 6-yearold daughter began struggling herself. As he said, “Chandler knows what she is trying to say. However, she has problems with the pronunciation.” Moen and his wife, Sara, ran into a roadblock when it came to finding the assistance necessary to address the young girl’s speech impediments. “Speech pathology is a combination of art and science with individualized approaches,” Moen explained. “In most cases that we know of, treatment is not covered 50 | DIGITAL UNICORN Q1 2021
by insurance. Yet speech pathology services typically cost $150 per hour. The treatment methods used do work for children but many parents can’t afford that level of care. Thus, too many children are left struggling with unresolved speech disorders.” Those disorders then create a challenging situation too big for families to tackle on their own. As for how they affect the U.S. population, here are some quick facts which can also be found at ASHA.org, the website of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: • 3 Million Americans stutter • 5-10% have communication disorders • 5% of child speech disorders emerge by 1st Grade • 23% of pediatric SLP services focus on language and literacy “Chandler Speaks is not just my passion project,” said Moen. “I hope for it to endure for many years.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF: BRYCE MOEN
BY STEVE SKURA, MBA
Bryce Moen, MBA, CPA
Founded in late 2019, Chandler Speaks celebrated its first full year of operation in late 2020. The group has forged ahead, reaching several milestones already. Upcoming goals include: securing a greater number of local clinical care practice partners, building relationships with nearby SLP centers and generating brand awareness around Chandler Speaks. In Greater Dallas/Fort Worth, Chandler Speaks has so far partnered with Callier Center for Communication Disorders and The Holland Foundation (via Holland Speech & Consulting) to offer SLP care services for more than 180 children. Last year, the nonprofit raised roughly $50,000 in support of that effort—more than 90 percent of which directly funded care and
