Phillips Among First in the Nation Recognized as Board Certified AAC Specialist
Lynsey Phillips, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-AAC, is a true pioneer in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC) in Northwest Arkansas.
First Cohort of Board Specialty Certificants
We had the privilege of sitting down with Lynsey Phillips. She is recognized as one of the first therapists in the nation to earn the Board Specialty Certification in Augmentative and Alternative Communication from the American Board of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Beyond the initial cohort of certificants, the Board aims to build on the leadership of clinicians like Lynsey to grow the number of specialists nationwide.
AAC Leadership and Advocacy
As a leader for AAC advocacy in Northwest Arkansas, Lynsey serves as the founding director of Children’s Therapy TEAM’s AAC program and co-founder of AAC Cares community support group for AAC users. Beyond her clinical work at Children’s Therapy TEAM, Lynsey also shares her expertise by teaching graduate-level AAC courses at the University of Arkansas.
Transforming Quality of Life
Here we explore Lynsey’s transformative contributions to the world of AAC evaluation and service. It all started when she met a young 2-year-old named Kylee who needed AAC many years ago. Lynsey shares her story.
“I’ve been a speech-language pathologist for 15 years now. I specialize in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, working with bilingual populations, autism spectrum disorder, and cerebral palsy.
I’d say the case that stands out most to me, is my friend Kylee. She is actually the inspiration for the AAC program at Children’s Therapy Team. I started seeing her when she was just a little over 2 years old. Her mom brought her to me and all she did was cry. She had no means of communication.
I hadn’t done an AAC evaluation yet. I started looking around for resources in our community, and there weren’t any. I kept coming up empty-handed. I started calling people, basically begging. I spoke to [Kym Hannah, CEO of Children’s Therapy TEAM and Cindy Watson] and I said, ‘this is what’s going on. I can’t find anyone to help me with it. Can I just do it myself? Will you guys help me with it?’ And they were like, ‘absolutely!’ And so we just worked together to do an evaluation to get her the equipment that she needed.
Now we have a whole program. She’s definitely one that sticks out to me because she’s the one who got things started.
If your child is unable to meet all of their communication needs through spoken natural speech, then they may benefit from augmented alternative communication.”
Lynsey Phillips, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-AAC
In addition to Lynsey’s specialty work in ACC, she also holds a degree in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology from Arizona State University. She is fluent in English and Spanish and holds an English as a Second Language Endorsement from Arkansas Tech University. Learn more here.
Leading AAC Care
Lynsey Phillips, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-AAC, is a true pioneer in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communications (AAC) in Northwest Arkansas.
First Cohort of Board Specialty Certificants
We had the privilege of sitting down with Lynsey Phillips. She is recognized as one of the first therapists in the nation to earn the Board Specialty Certification in Augmentative and Alternative Communication from the American Board of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Beyond the initial cohort of certificants, the Board aims to build on the leadership of clinicians like Lynsey to grow the number of specialists nationwide.
AAC Leadership and Advocacy
As a leader for AAC advocacy in Northwest Arkansas, Lynsey serves as the founding director of Children’s Therapy TEAM’s AAC program and co-founder of AAC Cares community support group for AAC users. Beyond her clinical work at Children’s Therapy TEAM, Lynsey also shares her expertise by teaching graduate-level AAC courses at the University of Arkansas.
Transforming Quality of Life
Here we explore Lynsey’s transformative contributions to the world of AAC evaluation and service. It all started when she met a young 2-year-old named Kylee who needed AAC many years ago. Lynsey shares her story.
“I’ve been a speech-language pathologist for 15 years now. I specialize in Augmentative and Alternative Communication, working with bilingual populations, autism spectrum disorder, and cerebral palsy.
I’d say the case that stands out most to me, is my friend Kylee. She is actually the inspiration for the AAC program at Children’s Therapy Team. I started seeing her when she was just a little over 2 years old. Her mom brought her to me and all she did was cry. She had no means of communication.
I hadn’t done an AAC evaluation yet. I started looking around for resources in our community, and there weren’t any. I kept coming up empty-handed. I started calling people, basically begging. I spoke to [Kym Hannah, CEO of Children’s Therapy TEAM and Cindy Watson] and I said, ‘this is what’s going on. I can’t find anyone to help me with it. Can I just do it myself? Will you guys help me with it?’ And they were like, ‘absolutely!’ And so we just worked together to do an evaluation to get her the equipment that she needed.
Now we have a whole program. She’s definitely one that sticks out to me because she’s the one who got things started.
If your child is unable to meet all of their communication needs through spoken natural speech, then they may benefit from augmented alternative communication.”
Lynsey Phillips, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCS-AAC
In addition to Lynsey’s specialty work in ACC, she also holds a degree in Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology from Arizona State University. She is fluent in English and Spanish and holds an English as a Second Language Endorsement from Arkansas Tech University. Learn more here.
