Our Staff, Board of Directors and Advisors

The experience, integrity, warmth and uplifting energy of the entire staff of the Institute are the intangible components that make these programs truly unique and life transforming experience for its clients and their families.

Catherine Otto Montgomery M.S.,CCC-SLP, BRS-FD
Board Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders
Executive Director and Specialist for the Teen/Adult Intensives

Catherine Montgomery has been a practicing speech-language pathologist for over 30 years. Since 1979, she has devoted all of her attention to the study of stuttering and its treatment. She is an internationally recognized leader in the field of stuttering treatment and has worked with 2,000 individuals who stutter from 28 states and 15 foreign countries. She is among the first in the United States to receive Specialty Recognition in Fluency Disorders.
After receiving her early training in the treatment of stuttering at the Hollins Communications Research Institute in Roanoke, Virginia, Ms. Montgomery moved beyond that experience to develop a unique and comprehensive treatment regimen with a whole person perspective, which has earned her the gratitude of patients and the praise of colleagues.

In her quest to provide her clients with the finest and most comprehensive treatment experience, she has also spent years evaluating the newly emerging concepts in human growth and potential, including extensive training at the Option Institute and Fellowship in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Concepts from other areas not typically associated with the field of speech pathology such as cognitive and sports psychology, human potential, performance and motivation are aligned with the science and research of speech pathology. These concepts are incorporated into her work, creating a uniqueness and effectiveness that has received national and international recognition.

Her Affiliations:
Catherine Montgomery is one of the few Board Recognized Specialists in Fluency Disorders in the United States. She is licensed in New York State and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP) as awarded by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). She served as the Chair of the Specialty Board for Fluency Disorders, and was active in the project of creating guidelines for training specialists in the area of stuttering treatment. She is an adjunct instructor, providing graduate student internships, with several universities in the United States, Europe and Canada.

She has been a speaker at several of the the International Fluency Association's (IFA) World Congresses on Stuttering, conducted the first IFA sponsored clinician training workshop in Slagelese, Denmark, as well as presented at the Oxford Dysfluency Conferences in England. Catherine is also involved with the National Stuttering Association  and Friends, self help organizations. She is associated with the Stuttering Foundation of America  and Our Time Theatre Company as well. Catherine has been a speaker at many of these organizations' conferences and has also trained therapists from the U.S. and abroad.

Chamonix L. Olsen, M.S.,CCC-SLP, BRS-FD
Board Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders
Children, Teen, and Adult Specialist

One of very few Board Recognized Specialists in Fluency Disorders (BRS-FD) in the United States, Chamonix joined AIS in 2003 and works with children, teens, and adults individually and also runs portions of the intensive therapy program for teens and adults. She supervises the weekly practice/support group for intensive clients as well as conducts follow-up treatment for our intensive therapy clients by providing phone sessions and individual therapy sessions. In addition she is a supervisor for graduate student clinicians.              

Prior to joining AIS, Chamonix was a part of a private practice in Greenwich, CT where she treated individuals with a variety of communication disorders ranging from voice, articulation, accent reduction, social communication, language disorders, and fluency.  Since 2001, Chamonix has felt privileged to work with hundreds of clients with speech and language disorders and their families.   

In keeping with the philosophy of AIS, she supports a whole person approach to therapy with acceptance and respect for her clients. Chamonix graduated Summa Cum Laude from Southern Connecticut State University with a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology and Cum Laude from Messiah College in Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.  She is licensed in New York and Connecticut and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-language Pathology (CCC-SLP) as awarded by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).  She is a member of ASHA's Fluency Disorder Special Interest Division, a member of the International Fluency Association, the National Stuttering Association, and Friends, the Association for Young People who Stutter.

Carl Herder, M.A., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist  

Before joining the AIS team, Carl was a graduate student at the University of Central Florida (UCF), in Orlando and graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCF with his Masters of Arts in Communication Sciences and Disorders. During his time at UCF, he earned several honors, including the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Who's Who at UCF and was a Research and Mentoring Program Scholar.

He performed research in the area of fluency disorders under Dr. Chad Nye and Dr. Martine Vanryckeghem at UCF, presented numerous times at national and international conventions, and published his first article in Contemporary Issues in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Spring 2006. Carl also taught Basic Phonetics to undergraduate students for two years.

As he is "integrated" in what he brings to AIS in the form of clinical, research and teaching skills, Carl supports AIS' integrated approach to stuttering treatment. His current responsibilities include evaluation and treatment of individual clients, facilitation of the Tuesday night support group, assisting with intensive treatment programs, and managing the institute's growing research initiatives.

When you first contact the American Institute it will no doubt be Jen's friendly voice on the other end of the phone or email.  Jen comes to us with a varied background. Originally from Michigan (Go Blue!), she moved to New York to pursue a career in acting and jazz saxophone and, like many New York artists has worked as a model, actress, waiter, chicken suit filler, and musician. She also has an extensive accounting background. In her time at AIS, Jen has become interested in stuttering and is currently taking graduate classes in Speech-Language Pathology. She holds a B.A. in Literature and Psychology from Hunter College. 

"I've enjoyed working in the positive environment at the Institute and seeing so many people go through the creative process of freeing themselves from the limitations of stuttering as well as becoming more fluent speakers as they develop skills and confidence," she says emphatically.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS  

BOARD MEMBERS  

John Harrison, Editor, "Letting Go" for the National Stuttering Association, 
San Franciso, CA

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