When Children Speak,...Chandler Speaks Listens

When Children Speak, ...

Chandler Speaks Listens

BY STEVE SKURA, MBA

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

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.”

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

IMAGE COURTESY OF: BRYCE MOEN

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IMAGE COURTESY OF: CHANDLER SPEAKS

treatment.

When asked about his five-year vision for Chandler Speaks, Moen said he felt strongly about his desire to grow the nonprofit into a leading regional coordinator of SLP services for underserved children and youth. A local focus, he explained, would help contain expenses and ensure that the smallest possible portion of donated funds would be earmarked to cover administrative costs.

Moen, responsible for overall strategy and day-to-day operations, added that the organization plans to launch “a mobile program” which would allow staff and volunteers to visit less advantaged communities. From there, they can provide on-the-spot assessments and other services for children whose parents lack reliable transportation or who otherwise have difficulty accessing and navigating the SLP care system.

From its headquarters in Bedford, Texas, the Chandler Speaks team has

also been working to establish itself as a technical advisor to the education sector. The goal of the initiative is to raise awareness for speech development disorders and promote understanding of the unique challeng-

Moen, who said “the best results are seen with private speech therapy,” has brought 17-plus years of accounting and leadership experience to the tasks of guiding Chandler Speaks and making it financially viable. Outside

“In most cases that we know of,

treatment is not covered by insurance. Yet speech pathology services typically cost $150 per hour.

– Bryce Moen, MBA, CPA, Founder, President & Treasurer of Chandler Speaks

es each child and family faces, plus to expand the nonprofit’s network of community partners so that it can further break down barriers to care and treatment.

the nonprofit sector, he works as VP of Accounting at Teal Natural Resources, LLC. His MBA in general management was received from University of Texas at Austin; his bachelor’s in accountancy from University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

The organization’s fundraising target for 2021 is to exceed donations of $50,000. Make a difference in children’s lives by taking time to learn more—or to make a donation—at

ChandlerSpeaks.org.”

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Chandler Speaks Board of Directors member Aubrey Boswell (far left) and founder, president and treasurer Bryce Moen, MBA, CPA (far rt.), present a $34,000 check to Angela Shoup and Justin Banta, respectively executive director and senior director of development, at Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

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