Congratulations to Natalie Potter, MA, CCC-SLP, for graduating from the Apraxia Kids Intensive Training Institute (Apraxia Boot Camp)!

Natalie is a school-based SLP who is proud to be working in the school district that raised her, Cherry Creek School District in Aurora, Colorado. While she values her job inside and out, she feels most fulfilled serving children with motor speech disorders, and specifically, Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Sharing research with her colleagues, listening to the needs and hopes of families she supports, and being a part of each child’s communication journey are aspects of her job that she is privileged to be a part of. Her interest in the complexities of CAS led her to the Apraxia Kids Boot Camp, an intensive training for qualified speech-language pathologists in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of CAS. She graduated in 2021 and has been using her high-level skills in her everyday practice ever since.

On the weekends, you can find Natalie doing yoga, gardening, spending time with her three little boys, and reading the next book-to-movie adaptation. She looks forward to always learning and to finding even more ways to serve as a provider and advocate for CAS in her local area.

Natalie offers services in Aurora, Colorado.

Check out Natalie’s Apraxia Kids SLP Directory Listing to learn more.

Apraxia Kids: What are the top 3 things you learned from this training experience?
Natalie: The top three things I learned from Boot Camp crossed the personal and the professional. I learned that questions need to be asked when it comes to research and therapy practices. In order to ask these questions, I learned to remember that my clinical voice and input matters just as much as those I serve. I also learned that connection to other SLPs is invaluable. Maintaining strong friendships with fellow Boot Camp grads has made processing data, relaying questions, and generating ideas comfortable when it’s among a group of like-minded clinicians.

Apraxia Kids: How did the boot camp experience change or expand your network of colleagues/friends?
Natalie: The group of SLPs I worked with during Boot Camp (we call ourselves the Sunshine Sisters!) communicate several times a week. We text each other questions, share research, and provide support for each other as we venture off in ways to support caseloads that cater to CAS. We work in various settings and inspire each other in the different angles of our work, from non-profits to schools to hospitals.

Apraxia Kids: How have you implemented the knowledge you gained at boot camp?
Natalie: It’s a priority for me to incorporate continual research in my practice and to share and process it with others. I do this with colleagues in my school district, my Boot Camp group members, and SLPs on social media. In terms of specific skills, I have implemented the Principles of Motor Learning in every motor speech session I do. As I am in a school, I have also used my training in the impacts of CAS on literacy and the challenges students with CAS may have with a standard phonologically based curriculum. I have also exercised and shared my skills in differential diagnosis of CAS, dysarthria, and severe phonological impairment with fellow clinicians in my school district.

Apraxia Kids: What is an example of how you have been able to (or plan to) use your expertise as a local resource/support for other professionals and/or families since attending the intensive training?
Natalie: Since graduating from Boot Camp, I have begun receiving frequent phone calls from families in my area looking for information and inquiring about my experience in CAS. I recently filed a Proclamation for Apraxia Awareness Day in Aurora, Colorado, and it was accepted! I also plan to form a team of SLPs from my school district for the Denver Walk for Apraxia.

Apraxia Kids: What would you say to someone considering applying to boot camp next round?
Natalie: Go for it! I was drawn to Boot Camp because I enjoy intensive training and because I was exposed to CAS early in graduate school. I made connections during that time and kept my toolkit up, but working in schools didn’t give me as robust an experience as other SLPs in my group. I applied anyway, and I’m so very glad I did. It truly changed the way I think about treatment and how I think of myself as a clinician.