NWACS Board Members

 
 

Join the NWACS Board:

NWACS is run completely on volunteer power! Scroll down to read about our amazing volunteers who make this organization possible.

“Many hands make light work.” We are growing and need more help! All incoming board members receive mentorship and support from fellow board members. We are actively seeking AAC Users, BIPOC, and other marginalized individuals. Click here to explore our open positions. We would love to have you!

Have a question, an idea or request, simply want to connect, or want to get involved? Send us an email.

Current Board Members:

SLP means ‘speech-language pathologist’; OT means ‘occupational therapist’

President:

Kelly Kuehl

SLP

  • Kelly is a Speech-Language Pathologist. She has 18+ years of experience. Kelly's professional experience extends beyond clinical practice to program management and leadership. She is the Manager of Rehabilitation Services at Providence St. Luke’s Medical Center in Spokane, WA. In this role, she plays a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality services.

    Kelly's involvement with NWACS reflects her passion for inclusion. Where diversity is celebrated and every person is valued, heard, and respected. She strives to make a positive impact by promoting universal access to information and services. 

    Kelly finds joy in exploring the great outdoors, Oula dance fitness, and spending quality time with her nephews. She is a devoted dog mom, an avid plant lover, and values the simple pleasures of life. She finds fulfillment in nurturing connections both professionally and personally.

Photo of a light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera with a blurry brick background, she has shoulder-length blond hair with pick-purple ends

Vice President:

Caralee Wirth

SLP

  • Caralee is a Speech Language Pathologist with experience working in private practice and the public schools. She is passionate about helping families understand, develop, and use effective communication methods for their children with complex communication needs. As a new board member, she is excited to have an opportunity to give back to the community, network with professionals in the area, and share resources with families and teams of children with complex communication needs. Caralee lives in Lake Stevens with her husband, young daughter, and labrador retriever. She enjoys camping, reading, and games night with family and friends.

photo of Camille

Secretary:

Camille Stewart

SLP (she/her)

  • Camille is a bilingual (Spanish/English) speech-language pathologist. She has worked with both children and adults in a variety of settings including home health, outpatient, inpatient rehab, and acute hospital settings. She now works as the Pediatric Solutions Consultant for Tobii Dynavox.

    Camille is passionate about empowering individuals to find communication tools that can help them better communicate with friends, family, and the community and to reach their own communication goals. She learned even more about AAC and became an even bigger advocate for it when her dad was diagnosed with ALS and began using his own AAC system.

    Camille is excited to join the NWACS community here in Washington! In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and backcountry skiing with her husband David, and cattle dog mix, Poppy.

 
photo of Mary's face

Co-Treasurer:

Mary Rostad

(she/her)

  • Mary is a medical administrator with 20 years of experience working collaboratively with clinical professionals who provide assistive technology and augmentative alternative communication services to those who need them. She is passionate about 'clearing the way' for clinicians to do their best work by resolving administrative, regulatory, and compliance barriers.

    Mary joined the NWACS board as Treasurer to further this passion. In this role, Mary can leverage her extensive experience with financials, budgets, and taxes to provide meaningful support to NWACS & the greater community of complex communicators. In this way, Mary feels she is a part of the great work these clinicians do.

    Mary lives in Bothell with her husband, two children, and their dog. She enjoys kayaking, camping, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, mountain biking, dirt biking, and just about any other outdoor sport that can be done in the woods, mountains, or seas. When she's stuck at home, Mary also enjoys reading and watching a good movie or two with her family.

photo of Liz

Co-Treasurer:

Elizabeth Whitaker

OT (she/her)

  • Liz is currently an occupational therapist (OT) in the Everett School District, where she works primarily with elementary-aged students. She is involved in coordinating professional development events for the OT/PT department in Everett. Liz is passionate about interprofessional collaboration, specifically working with SLPs to support students with complex communication needs. She is continuing to learn about AAC through work and looks forward to deepening understanding through involvement with NWACS.

    Prior to attending graduate school, Liz lived abroad teaching English in China and worked in a community mental health child & family office as support staff. Liz enjoys reading, doing puzzles, crocheting, relaxing with her dog, and spending time with her niece.

Photo of Pixie (shoulders up). They are wearing a skiing helmet and face mask.

AAC User Advisor:

Pixie Sky

(they/them)

  • Pixie is autistic and nonverbal, a full time AAC user. They started drawing, when very young, to try to communicate with people. Pixie has also used emojis, home sign, printed communication cards, and American sign language as well as communication boards and speech generating AAC devices. They get frustrated with AAC device vocabularies sometimes because they’re all made for children, which limits their communication to child-appropriate words even though Pixie is an adult.

    Pixie loves skiing with a Special Olympics team, and does many activities with Outdoors for All, like rock climbing, bicycling, kayaking and hiking.

    Pixie is an artist at Vibrant Palette, an art studio specifically for disabled artists. They also really like animals and have 3 guinea pigs, 2 cats, and a Service Dog in training.

 
Black and white photo of Alicia's smiling face. She has long straight hair and dark-rimmed glasses. There is a blank wall behind her.

Blog Coordinator:

Alicia Alverson

SLP (she/her)

  • Alicia is a speech-language pathologist and assistive technology professional. She works at Smartbox Assistive Technology as a product specialist. She has 13 years of experience working with augmentative and alternative communication. Alicia was hooked on AAC/AT while caring for an individual who used AAC/AT. She was part of a collaboration to maximize powered mobility access and create a robust communication solution to work with complex access needs. She has since worked in school, clinic, and pediatric skilled nursing facility settings. Alicia enjoys utilizing her alternative access and powered mobility experience to collaborate with care teams and individuals. She has a passion for creating unique communication solutions for auditory scanning. Alicia is thrilled to be part of the NWACS community. Alicia has a dog, Auggie. She enjoys spending time with him, hiking, camping, cuddling, and playing. You will also find her running, video gaming, playing the piano, and traveling.

Photo of a  light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera, she has short gray hair.

Caregiver Representative:

Janice Murphy

SLP (retired)

  • Janice has worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist for over 40 years with the bulk of her experience in Idaho, Alaska, and Washington public schools. She retired from the Seattle School District in 2013 when her granddaughter was born with cerebral palsy. With very little experience in Augmentative-Alternative Communication (AAC), Janice has been learning what she can about low- and high-tech AAC systems and providing her granddaughter with communication support. In her spare time, she can be found walking Green Lake, at the gym or sitting around her kitchen table with friends.

photo of Sarah's face

Content Development:

Eunsey (Sarah) Lee

SLP (she/her)

  • Sarah is a school-based Speech-Language Pathologist specializing in AAC for 14+years. She has experience working with clients from birth to adulthood with complex communication needs. Sarah believes in evidence-based, innovative intervention strategies and synthesizing literature to practice. Working with diverse populations in NYC and Bay Area, CA, Sarah is passionate about providing culturally-linguistically affirming and culturally responsive care to all AAC users, centering families/caregivers/AAC users in intervention.

 
Photo of a light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera, she has shoulder-length curly brown hair, and a blue background

Evening Seminars Coordinator:

Marci Revelli

SLP

  • Marci is a speech language pathologist who specializes in the area of Augmentative Alternative Communication. With over 25 years experience, she has worked in private and public schools as well as in private practice in Seattle and in the Boston area. She currently runs the Augmentative Alternative Communication program at Seattle Children’s Hospital and provides AAC assessment, training and treatment for children of all ages. Marci also runs Augmentative Alternative Communication Services (AACS), her private practice that provides school training, consultation and in-home AAC training and treatment. She joined the NWACS board in 2020. In her other life, Marci is an avid hiker, camping enthusiast and yoga practitioner who you can find outside as much as possible, searching for agates on local beaches, breathing in the green of the trees or perhaps marveling at the many colors of the Seattle sky.

Photo of a Black woman's face smiling at the camera outside in the sunshine, she has short curly black hair.

Fall Conference Coordinator:

Margaret Edwards

SLP

  • Margaret is a Speech-Language Pathologist and Assistive Technology consultant with the Renton School District. She has been with the district for over 30 years and has had the great opportunity to work with a diverse population of students, most of whom require AAC to support their communication growth. Margaret is excited to be part of the NWACS group and hopes to use her knowledge of AAC to support students and families in a meaningful way. When it's time to relax, Margaret loves to spend time with her family visiting local parks and trails. In addition, she is an avid runner and has traveled to several states to participate in organized runs.

photo of Adam's face

NAACHO Coordinator:

Adam Coe

SLP (he/him)

  • Adam Coe has been a speech-language pathologist at PROVAIL since 2019. He has a background in special education and a passion for AAC. His role is to help individuals learn about AAC, acquire speech generating devices, and to train both individuals and their support teams in implementing new technologies and communication methods into their lives. He is excited to be joining NWACS and to help bring the AAC community together for NAACHO events. Adam is from the Seattle area and loves spending time with his young son and family on the weekends.

 
black and white photo of Cass from the shoulders up; her hair is pulled up and  she is wearing dangling earrings

Outreach Coordinator:

Cass Griffin Bennett

(she/her)

  • Cass Griffin Bennett is an autistic and ADHD self-advocate. She is a parent of multiple autistic children, including a young multimodal communicator. She knows firsthand that AAC can change lives. Cass started her youngest child on robust high-tech AAC at age 2. She stepped into the Outreach Coordinator role because she wishes she had known about NWACS when first embarking on this AAC quest. She hopes that sharing her family’s Toddler AAC experience will decrease gatekeeping. Cass wants to empower parents to take an active role in their child’s AAC journey.

    Cass is passionate about early access to robust high-tech AAC, collaborative problem-solving, equity, neurodiversity, and inclusion. Her guiding goal in parenting is to raise her children to be their own best self-advocates. Cass has a career background in professional services business development and a degree in Psychology.

photo of Molly's face with grass and evergreen trees in the background

Project Manager:

Molly Menzie

SLP (she/her)

  • Molly graduated with a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Utah in 2012. She has worked exclusively in pediatrics since completing her fellowship year, and has clinical interests in not only augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), but also bilingual language development and services, and pro-neurodiversity practices. Molly has been a volunteer with NWACS since 2019 and joined the board in 2022. In the realm of AAC, she strives to learn more from other professionals in order to provide strengths-based services, incorporate a parent coaching model, promote autonomy, and focus on supporting relationships. In her spare time, Molly likes to spend time playing with her kids, snowboarding, hiking, camping, and listening to podcasts.

photo of Amy

Social Media Coordinator:

Amy Kriewaldt

(she/her)

  • Amy Kriewaldt is a writer, blogger, podcaster, musician, and autistic activist. She is a homeschooling parent of three autistic children who all present with different communication differences. Her daughter, Alice, is a part-time AAC user and gifted visual artist. Her son, Franklin, is a budding social justice advocate eager to start his own school for children of all abilities. Her youngest son, Charles, is a talented musician and a dedicated Bob Dylan fan. A passionate defender of the right to communicate, Amy campaigns heavily for AAC usage in education. Amy’s mission in life is to raise the next generation of activists to have the strongest voices possible and ensure their voices are respected. As the new social media coordinator for NWACS, she hopes to increase AAC awareness and amplify the voices of lived experience.

    She is currently authoring a memoir about her childhood, traveling the country to piano competitions in the 1980s. As her mother tootled down the highway in a dilapidated motorhome outfitted with a spinet, Amy played The Muppet Show Theme to the dulcet sounds of her piano teacher, Sister Maria Goretti Zehr, singing along. Other projects include an essay collection entitled Gestures of Good Faith and completing an M.A. in Creative Writing and Literature. Her main research interests are body language, nonspeaking communication, the psychological impact of behaviorism, and Native American literature. When she is not writing or immersed in a book, Amy can be found with a shovel digging holes in the yard to look for rocks, shooing a cat off the kitchen counter, enjoying a mug of tea, making horrendous faces at the camera for photos to make her kids laugh, reading with her children, and buying plants that will likely end up not making it.

 
photo of Alison's face

Volunteer Coordinator:

Alison Damboise

SLP (she/her)

  • Alison is a Speech-Language Pathologist in the Snohomish school district. She is also the owner of a private practice (Lake Stevens Speech Language and AAC, PLLC). Alison has a special interest in working with autistic children and children with complex communication needs. She is passionate about learning, sharing resources, and connecting with and supporting families. As a new board member, Alison is looking forward to collaborating with other AAC professionals, AAC users, and families to help support authentic and autonomous communication for everyone. In her spare time, she loves hiking, going for walks, reading, and spending time with her husband, two kids, and Collie mix.

Photo of a light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera in front of a dark background, her hair is pulled back and she is wearing small earrings.

Website Coordinator:

Cassandra Stafford

SLP (she/her)

  • Casey is a Speech-Language Pathologist and Assistive Technology Professional with a private practice (Vlinder Communication Therapies) in the Seattle area. She works primarily with children, however she also has experience with teens and adults with intellectual/development disabilities. She signed on with the NWACS board in 2016 to help with "webmaster" and social media duties, and knows just enough to almost look like she knows what she is doing. Despite having grown up in Eastern Washington where summer temps regularly reached triple digits, she now starts to wilt as the temperature creeps past the mid-70s. Casey enjoys reading, crocheting, card-making, and doting on her adorable nieces!

 
 
Photo of a light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera, she has blond hair pulled back and sunglasses on top of her head.

Member At Large:

Tessa Besagno

SLP

  • Tessa is a Speech-Language Pathologist born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She has worked within the Kent School District for ten years and has worked with children ages 3-12 with various communication disorders and disabilities, including many with complex communication needs. She has experience working with a variety of Augmentative-Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, both low- and high-tech, and believes there is nothing more powerful than connecting a child with a means of functional communication. When not working, she likes to travel, hike, read, and trial new recipes.

Photo of light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera outside in front of greenery. She has long, straight, dark blond hair and is wearing glasses.

Member At Large:

Caitlin Cloud

SLP (she/her)

  • Caitlin is a speech-language pathologist who currently works at a hospital in northwest Washington providing acute inpatient services to adults. While her passion for AAC began when she worked as an elementary school paraprofessional, she found her calling supporting adults who have experienced communication changes as a result of neurologic and other medical conditions. Caitlin works to implement AAC in meaningful and accessible ways across the spectrum of care to ensure individuals can communicate regardless of medical status. As a new board member, Caitlin is thrilled to have the opportunity to give back to the AAC/AT community and to raise public awareness and acceptance of AAC. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, weightlifting, and exploring new places with family and friends.

image is a photo of Rachel

Member At Large:

Rachel Riback

SLP (she/her)

  • Rachel is a speech-language pathologist currently working at an elementary school in Washington, DC. She has a background in elementary and special education and completed graduate school for Speech Pathology at the University of District of Columbia in 2017.

    Rachel works with students who have various speech and language disorders including articulation, fluency, expressive, receptive, and pragmatic language deficits. Many of the students that she works with have complex communication needs and benefit from AAC devices or support to help them communicate throughout their day. These tools have proven to be extremely effective for many of the nonverbal or unintelligible students that she works with and she is very passionate about learning more about AAC, using it with her students, and spreading/ sharing awareness!

    In her spare time, Rachel enjoys traveling, sports, going to museums, live music, reading, and spending time with friends and family. She is very excited to collaborate with this group to grow her knowledge, spread her passion, and help make sure that everyone can have the voice that they deserve!

 
Photo of a  light-skinned woman's face smiling at the camera, she has short, dark with bits of gray, hair and is wearing hoop earrings..

Member At Large:

Kathy Smith

SLP (retired) (she/her)

  • Kathy is a retired Speech-Language Pathologist with over 40 years in the field of Augmentative-Alternative Communication (AAC). While she worked with children through adults over the course of her career, her experience has been primarily with adults with complex communication needs. Kathy has been involved with NWACS almost since its inception and served as President for many years. She remains active in the field of AAC through volunteer work, mentoring, and her work on the NWACS board. She also volunteers in the English As A Second Language program at Seattle Public Library. Kathy is the proud Grammy of four grandchildren and resides in the Seattle area with her husband. She is an avid reader, loves to knit and go out for coffee!

 
 

Join the NWACS Board

Benefits of serving on the NWACS Board include:

  • Opportunities to connect and network with colleagues and mentors in the field of AAC

  • Learn and grow your knowledge in AAC/AT

  • Complimentary conference registration for volunteering in needed roles

  • Flexibility and support from fellow board community

  • For professionals: an activity to add to your curriculum vitae

Click on role descriptions to learn more about responsibilities of serving on the NWACS Board.

Interested?

  1. We encourage you to first look at our Mission, Vision, Values and explore the NWACS website to learn more about our organization.

  2. Read the role description(s) for positions you are interested in.

  3. Contact us to let us know your interest.

  4. We will invite you to attend a board meeting so we can meet, answer your questions, and you can get a glimpse of us in action.

  5. When you are ready to commit, complete the Becoming an NWACS Board Member form and send us an email (info@nwacs.info).

Open Positions:

All incoming board members receive mentorship and support from fellow board members. If you are interested, or have any questions, please contact us!

Fundraising Coordinator

Role Description

(Your image here.) NEW BOARD ROLE Our AAC Community needs YOU!

Marketing Coordinator

Role Description

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Website Coordinator

Role Description

(Your image here.) NEW BOARD ROLE Our AAC Community needs YOU!

Web Team Coordinator

Role Description