As a girl, Andrea Chee watched her grandmother struggle in the aftermath of a sudden and debilitating stroke. It was a speech language pathologist who helped her grandmother speak again.
Andrea came to Texas as an undergraduate to study communication sciences and disorders. She had the chance to work at the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute under Courtney Byrd, a top specialist in childhood stuttering treatments. Andrea worked one-on-one with children and adults who stutter and learned how to plan and execute their therapy.
Her dream is to make speech therapy more accessible and affordable to Texans who currently lack those resources by opening a nonprofit speech clinic offering free services. Andrea plans to return home to El Paso.
Whether therapy means giving a child the courage to raise her hand in class or helping someone tell their grandchild they love them, Andrea says communication is priceless. “It’s the foundation of everything we do.”
