It feels like just yesterday when I wrote a very similar blog post about Amber Petereck joining our team! However, here we are just a few short months later and we are still busting at the seams! We love what we do, the kiddos that we see are making incredible progress and we continue to get more and more referrals. As a result, I could not be more excited to announce that Rheanne Lewis is joining our team here are Family Chatterbox! Rheanne is an incredible therapist who has a ton of experience and we could not be more thrilled to have her on our team! To help introduce her to you guys we asked her some questions that we have listed below!
First, Tell us about your family.
I grew up in a small town outside of Peoria, Illinois. I am the oldest of my siblings, to a brother and a sister. We grew up living the small town life, right smack in the middle of some corn fields (four of them to be exact). In April, my first niece was born and I was completely smitten! I am recently engaged to my best friend, and together we have two fur babies, Tinsley and Grux. They are German Belgian Shepherds and keep our hands and hearts full.
Why did you choose Speech-Language Pathology?
I chose this field because it sort of fell into my lap. I became interested in Speech-Language Pathology after working at a day camp as a special needs camp counselor. From there I shadowed a Speech Language Pathologist and I was fascinated. I was originally an Early Elementary Education major and switched over to Communication Sciences and Disorders as soon as I got to college. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made! I love everything about this field, but most of all I love that I get help so many people find their voices. I love that I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing individuals throughout my career who have taught me so much.
What is your work experience?
I started my career in Central Illinois working for an in-home pediatric therapy company. My primary focus on was Early Intervention, Birth-3. I also served a variety of school age children as well. I worked with a wide variety of clientele with a variety of delays and disorders, including, but not limited to: Down Syndrome, Autism, Phonological Disorders, Articulation Delays, Expressive and Receptive Language delays/disorder, Apraxia, feeding, and cognitive delays as well. I was fortunate enough to get to create, pilot, and run several thematic speech and language groups as well as treat individually. My fiancé and I did long distance for a few years when I decided to finally take the leap and move up to the Twin Cities. I took a sub-SLP job to cover a maternity leave at an ECSE (Early childhood) school and loved it. It was a hike from the Twin Cities so I decided to find something a little closer. I ended up at an Autism/Out patient clinic, where I get to lead the Speech Department. I enjoy supervising and have gotten to supervise quite a few graduate students, as well as a recent grad. I currently also work part time at GiGi’s Playhouse, which is a Down Syndrome Achievement and Resource Center. Here, I lead a Social Skills program that I created, piloted, and now run.
What are you most excited about when you think about joining Family Chatterbox?
I’m so excited to be joining the Family Chatterbox team! The second hardest thing about leaving Illinois (first being my family) was leaving my job. I love every thing that in-home therapy offers. For me, getting to enter someone’s home and provide treatment to their loved one is such an honor. I firmly and passionately believe that treating in the natural environment is the best kind of therapy you can give. My experience as an in-home therapist has shown me how important collaboration between caregivers and the therapist is. Having worked in a variety of settings, I feel that the most effective carryover, generalization, and overall-progress I’ve seen has been when providing in-home therapy. Family Chatterbox offers something that no where else in, or around, the Twin Cities offers and I couldn’t be more excited to join this incredible team!
Lastly and most importantly... What is your favorite food?
Oh gosh, I’m often made fun of for my child-like palate. But, I absolutely love a simple swirl ice cream cone (you know, plain vanilla and chocolate swirled), from Casey’s (the gas station) to be exact. I also LOVE popcorn! However, now that I have a wedding dress to fit into I’m trying to tone down the ice cream and popcorn, and tone up the veggies!
At Family Chatterbox we don't just seek to grow and hire more and more therapists to make more and more money, we seek to grow and find the right therapists that will help make us a better company, a better team and help us provide the best speech-language therapy in the state of Minnesota. Rae is a perfect fit for Family Chatterbox and we firmly believe she will make us better all the way around! We love her already! We know you will too!
-Kasey-
