Throughout May, Better Speech and Language Month aims to raise awareness concerning disorders of speech, hearing, voice, and language. Communication disorders can develop at any point during a lifetime. Whether present at birth or developed later due to injury, illness, or genetic disorder, treatments are available.

Early intervention can help to identify external causes or help to address hearing concerns in children. Using hearing protection on the job and listening to music and other media at reasonable levels will help to preserve hearing. There are a variety of illnesses that speech-language pathologists and audiologists study so they can plan treatment to improve quality of life and improve recovery.

We wanted to thank our Speech Pathologist, Kristine Gardinier for doing all she does for our students. Communication is important in our world today, and to be able to teach our children to communicate effectively is the key to great success! You do a great job Kristine, and we are so thankful to have you as part of our HGS Family!

We asked Kristine a few questions about her position here at The House. Read her answers below!

How long have you worked as the Speech pathologist?

I have worked as a speech pathologist for 35 years, almost 16 of them in the Tilton School.

What's your favorite part about being the Tilton School Speech pathologist?

I see my students individually, which is virtually unheard of in school settings. This allows me the ability to focus directly on what they need with total intensity.

What makes this job worth it for you?

My goal is to give 100% of myself in every therapy session, with every student. I want my students to truly understand that for the time they are with me, they are cared about and that they are the most important people in the world to me in those moments. That’s where you find success and accomplishment of goals.

Tell us about a time when you feel you personally impacted our students' lives.

You can never be certain how your actions or influence impacts your students. I just hope that as they leave our agency and move forward with their lives that they can remember their time with me as positive.

Also, anything else you'd like to say about being the Speech pathologist.

“Speech therapy” is actually a misnomer! When people hear “speech therapy”, they automatically think of a child that can’t make a certain sound. My profession is so much more than that; it’s about helping people communicate effectively.