What's New

Attend one of our FREE PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSIONS on Stuttering:

Monday, October 24th, from 7-8:30 pm, at the West Vancouver Memorial Library
Thursday, October 27th, from 7-8:30 pm, at 750 West Broadway, Suite 1101

Learn about the nature and causes of stuttering, along with tips for parents and adults.

Note: Although these events are free, pre-registration is required as space is limited. To register, contact info@columbiaspeech.com or call 604-875-9100

Columbia stuttering program featured in Vancouver Sun article

August 18, 2011 - Columbia client Darryl Osborne and speech-language pathologist Patrick Byrne were featured in a Vancouver Sun article about Darryl's experiences with Columbia's 10-day intensive stuttering clinic. Click here for a link to the story.

Columbia welcomes speech pathologist Clinton Tsang!

February 1st, 2011 - We welcome the arrival of Clinton Tsang to our team of speech therapy experts. Clinton sees both children and adults and can provide Cantonese and Mandarin Speech Therapy.

West Vancouver Speech therapy clinic to open soon!

We are pleased to announce that, later in 2011, we will be opening a clinic to serve West Vancouver and North Vancouver speech therapy needs. Check back here for details. After 24 years in Vancouver, Columbia Speech and Language Services Inc. will be also serving the speech therapy needs of North Shore residents.

Columbia Speech client and therapist featured on CKNW radio

January 29th, 2011 - Kate Semyanova, a graduate of Columbia's intensive stuttering treatment clinic, and Columbia founder Wendy Duke both appeared on "the Morning News with Jill Bennett" to discuss their reactions to the acclaimed movie "The King's Speech". This movie, starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, is leading the pack in terms of Oscar nominations this year. Duke, Semyanova, and fellow students and therapists from Columbia attended the movie en masse at a special screening before the public opening. All agreed the movie was fantastic, both for the acting and for raising the profile of people who stutter in such a positive way.

For the full segment, go to http://www.cknw.com/other/audiovault.html, click on January 29th 7 am, and slide the time bar to 7 minutes into the hour.

Intensive Aphasia Treatment Program to be Launched Summer 2011

Columbia Speech and Language Services Inc. is pleased to announced that, by popular demand, we will be offering an intensive treatment program for people with aphasia. Click here for our information page.

Stuttering program featured on CTV news

December 13, 2010 - CTV Health reporter Dr. Rhonda Low did a story on today's news regarding Columbia's intensive stuttering treatment clinic. The focus of the story was how clients who live outside of the Lower Mainland can now access our monthly refresher sessions via Skype. Saeed Kalafchi was interviewed (via Skype from Oxford, England) while participating in a refresher session run by Columbia speech pathologist Jayme Carvey. Speech pathologist and program founder Wendy Duke was interviewed regarding the process of stuttering treatment and the importance of regular follow up sessions for maintainance of fluency. To hear and see the entire clip, follow this link: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/drrhonda/ and click on the video "Stuttering Woes".

CKNW - Stuttering and Bullying featured on the Christy Clark Show

On November 26th, 2010, Columbia Speech and Language Services Inc. speech pathologist Wendy Duke and stuttering treatment graduate Conrad Ma appeared on the Christy Clark show to discuss stuttering treatment and bullying of youngsters who stutter. Duke also took calls from listeners. This audioclip is use with permission of CKNW and Christy Clark. Click here for the full interview. Please allow several minutes for this large file to load.

Columbia Therapist Chairs Provincial Conference

November 2010 - Congratulations to Columbia Speech and Language Services’ own speech- language pathologist, Erin Berkyto, who successfully chaired the recent ( October 14-17, 2010) annual conference of the BC Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (BCASLPA). The theme of this year’s conference was “Communication for a Fuller Life.” The conference, held at Burnaby ’s Delta Hotel and Casino, was both well attended and well received. A highlight of the conference was the awards dinner, October 15th, during which clinic founder Wendy Duke was one of several senior members of the organization honoured for 25 years of membership. Next year, the conference will be held in Victoria , BC .

Berkyto is a UBC graduate who has worked, since 2008, as a consultant at Columbia Speech and Language Services Inc., where she also did some of her clinical training as a graduate student speech pathologist. In addition to volunteering with BCASLPA, she is active in clinical teaching through the UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences. She has a busy and diverse caseload of both children and adults.

Local Pilot Project Goes Global to Mark International Stuttering Awareness Day

Friday October 22nd is International Stuttering Awareness Day, and Columbia Speech and Language Services is taking its treatment truly international, using Skype to mark the occasion. Columbia has run an intensive stuttering treatment clinic since 1995. Clinic owner and operator, Wendy Duke, says that one challenge unique to Vancouver is providing necessary follow-up treatment to our globe-trotting population.

Until now, clients who left for work and study overseas, or who live outside the Lower Mainland, were not able to take part in important monthly follow-up meetings. However, thanks to Columbia speech pathologist Jayme Carvey, graduates can now participate via Skype in these sessions. Jayme and Wendy are currently running a pilot project in which participants can call into these meetings from anywhere they can get an internet connection.

Saeed Kalafchi is one such client - Saeed graduated from the Vancouver stuttering program in August 2010, in between a work stint in Dubai and studies at Oxford. He will now be able to "Skype in" to meetings with fellow graduates, such as Omar Hash of West Vancouver who says "it`s great to be able to keep in touch with graduates from around the world." As for Saeed, he is "glad to be part of such a great group of passionate therapists and supportive fellow stutterers and friends."

North Shore Residents Mark Stuttering Awareness Day

October 2010 - West Vancouver resident Omar Hash and North Vancouver resident Judy Briton may not appear to have much history in common. Omar grew up in war-torn Iraq during the Saddam years where, at one point, his family went into hiding after Saddam made a death threat against his father, an official in the Iraqi government. By contrast, Judy led a relatively calmer life growing up in North Vancouver and working for the family-owned North Shore Driving School. But the pair share the painful bond of a history of stuttering. Both have now learned to control their speech and to talk fluently by taking an intensive stuttering treatment program offered at Columbia Speech and Language Services, owned and operated by West Vancouver resident Wendy Duke.

Omar and Judy want to mark International Stuttering Awareness Day by letting the word out that treatment can help. "Treatment is not a quick fix," says Wendy. "Clients need to understand that they will need to practice their fluency techniques on an ongoing basis." Judy and Omar agree - both have continued to check in for regular sessions and practice daily to maintain their speech fluency. Says Omar, "the program at Columbia Speech saved me...I have a voice!" Judy does not mind the work, saying "this program really works and it`s worth the work. It changes people`s lives." And, when told that Wendy plans on opening a North Shore branch of her clinic in 2011, Judy says "I`ll be there with bells on."

Columbia Speech-Language Pathologists Featured at Provincial Conference

October 2010 - Clinic Director Wendy Duke and associate Alisa Ferdinandi are on the schedule for the upcoming annual conference of the British Columbia Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists in Burnaby. On October 16th, Alisa and Wendy along with client Les Hoover and his wife Debbie Hoover, will provide a workshop for speech pathologists on providing aphasia group therapy. Aphasia is a devastating speech disability resulting from stroke or other related neurological conditions. It leaves the individual with difficulty, or even inability, to speak or write due to damage to the language centre of the brain. For the past four years, Columbia Speech and Language Services Inc. has provided group treatment to adults with aphasia on a weekly basis. The program is funded by the Fraser Health Authority Acquired Brain Injury Program and is free to adult residents of the Fraser Health Region who have been diagnosed with aphasia. Wendy and Alisa will be talking about the "how to" of the program, while the Hoovers will be speaking about the importance of this kind of support to clients and their families.