Testimonials

Communication Issues and Stuttering in Gulf War Vet

I am a Gulf War vet that came back from the war with a speech problem that progressively got worse. A Veterans Administration speech pathologist recommended that I see Nancy Barcal and have her do an evaluation for stuttering and determine if a Speech Easy fluency device would help me control my stuttering. After going through an evaluation and Nancy's expert experience, it was concluded that I was a good candidate.

Nancy helped me get the Speech Easy and the Veterans Administration paid for it.

I put on the Speech Easy each morning while I am studying the New Testament in my Bible. After reading out loud using the Speech Easy my speech improves and the SpeechEasy helps me keep good fluency throughout the whole day.

When you come to Nancy, you are not only getting a speech therapist, you are getting a loving and caring friend that is willing to reach out and volunteer to help veterans.

She is one of the true heroes that helps fight the battles at home by caring for veterans.

I thank Jesus Christ for putting her in my life and I thank you Nancy for helping make life easier.

W. Rogers, Stutterer and owner of a SpeechEasy® fluency device

SpeechEasy® and Stuttering Help for Mature Young Man

Nancy Barcal's passion and the love of her work has enriched my grandson life .He enjoys attending individual sessions with Nancy and the monthly national Stuttering Association support group. Brandon is now more engaging and outgoing and speaks with confidence. My grandson's overall self-confidence and self- esteem has grown by leaps and bounds and as a grandparent we are very pleased with his progress during the past 8 months with Nancy Barcal.

Nancy makes every session fun and engaging and uses a variety of tools to help him succeed. Nancy enjoys seeing the benefits of all of her clients and families.

D. Bozzo, grandmother of Brandon Hobson-10 year old who stutters

Stuttering Help for Teenagers

Nancy Barcal is a very talented passionate specialist, who has a brilliant ability to work with people inspiring them to believe in themselves, encouraging them to reach their goal. That's what she did to my teenage boys, who were depressed and skeptical to anyone who tried to help them. They immediately fell in love with her and obeyed her suggestions, followed her passion. Their speech has been improved a lot, they STARTED TO LIVE!!!

Now, Slavic is getting ready to play and sing in youth worship group. Michael is an usher at church and makes a lot of friends. And this is just the beginning.

God bless you dear Nancy. We love you.

Lyubov and Mikhail G

Stuttering Control

Nancy's therapy has given my daughter the confidence and tools that she needs to help control her stuttering.

Shelia Bane

SpeechEasy® and Stuttering

Nancy Barcal, a speech therapist for 30 years with impeccable observational/evaluative ability, is simply excellent at what she does. And this is why I see her intermittently for speech therapy. I use a SpeechEasy, and my fluency has increased because of Nancy's help. She reminds me of what I need to do to keep my fluency high. In addition to being a wonderful therapist, Nancy is an activist and advocate for all stutterers. I recommend Nancy highly. (And, yes, you can query me about my experience as Nancy's client at artandmarianne@comcast.net.)

Art Ellis, Sacramento, CA

Stuttering Expertise for Children and Families

When I was looking for a therapist to work with my child who stutters, a friend referred me to Nancy. I could not have found a more perfect match for us. Nancy puts her heart and soul into her profession. Her passion for stuttering is clearly evident. She has cared not only for my child, but also for our family, as we have faced challenges, always putting our minds at ease. She is a wealth of information with a research driven practice. I would not hesitate for a millisecond in referring Nancy to others.

L. Visser

SpeechEasy®

Barcal is the only Sacramento area speech pathologist authorized to prescribe the SpeechEasy device.

One of the patients she has assisted with the SpeechEasy device is Matt Goodwin, 13, of Rocklin. Goodwin's mom, LeeAnn Goodwin, has noticed a huge change in her son's speech and confidence since being fitted with the SpeechEasy device.

"It allows him to have the confidence to do things he might have avoided before," says Goodwin, who mentions that her son even ran for Student Council last year.

Goodwin says she noticed her son's difficulty with speech as soon as he started talking, but that it got much worse when he had an evaluation at age 6 and became aware of the problem. Although she had brought Matt to a speech therapist and tried many different programs, it wasn't until she saw the device on "Oprah" and contacted Barcal that she seriously considered the device for her son.

Now she says he wears it all the time and his speech is 75 percent better. Although he still has speech therapy in addition to the device, his mom believes he may not always depend on either.

"There is a possibility we caught it early enough that he may not need it as an adult," Goodwin says.

From an article in the Granite Bay View; August 2005

Speech Improvement for school age student

Our daughter loves Nancy and looks forward to visiting with her each week. As parents, we appreciate that Nancy not only helps our daughter with speech, but she also teaches us how to work with our daughter and provides weekly homework that we can use to help her learn more quickly. Nancy is always ready to answer all of our questions.

Todd and Wendy, parents of 10 year old

Speech Sound Improvement

My daughter had only been receiving about 3 minutes of individual speech therapy from our school district per week - most of the speech therapy had been group work, and we were not hearing much improvement in her enunciation. In the first few months with you, her words are so much easier to understand, and her friends and family are thrilled with her new communication skills. She really enjoys her time with you. I appreciate the games you send home for us to practice with her and making it fun!

It was so hard to watch our daughter struggle to be understood by her friends and family members.

After receiving speech therapy from Nancy, she can now pronounce her words more clearly and she speaks with great confidence and joy. She is progressing so quickly - and it is changing her life!

Thank you so much for helping our daughter!

Gail Kay of Roseville, CA

Communication Frustration due to Unclear Speech

I decided to get help for my 3-year old daughter because people could not understand what she was saying. Her speech was developing, but her communication problems were causing her a lot of distress, and she would often become frustrated and upset. She was not participating at preschool and was withdrawn.

For months I consulted with several speech pathologists but was not satisfied. Just by talking with Mrs. Barcal, I felt her concern and knew she had the knowledge and experience that could help us. My daughter was immediately comfortable with “Mrs. Nancy.” Her approach is playful and relaxed and always positive.

Now, just having worked with Mrs. Barcal a few times, my daughter's speech is notably improved. She is articulating words consistently and can manipulate her speech to make sounds that she could not make before. More important to me, the confidence she has gained has been life changing. She has more joy and fun being around other kids. She has even become comfortable demonstrating her leadership and cooperating with others.

Everything about our experience with Nancy Barcal has been great. She has made herself available for any questions we have, and provides lots of personal attention during our visits. She's genuinely nice! The results she has helped our daughter achieve have exceeded our expectations.

Speaking more clearly is something we had hoped for, for our daughter in the short term. Her progress and the emotional stress that has resolved itself are going to have positive long term, lifetime affects. I also believe this has changed my daughter in another way as well. I'm not even sure what you might call this feeling. It's the feeling my daughter has when she reflects on how she needed help, but she couldn't express what was wrong or how she was feeling, but we helped her feel better by finding just the right person.

I'm hoping that because we found her the right person to help, it has generated more trust and faith in us as her parents. And I hope it will help her to know that she isn't alone. There are people who are willing to help. Someday, when she is perfectly articulate and emotionally expressive, this is what I want my daughter to keep in her heart. For now, she gets excited and looks forward to her play dates with Mrs. Nancy.

Lisa Rockwell

Speech Sound Improvement

Our now 4 year old daughter has been seeing Nancy for 9 months on a weekly basis for significant speech related problems. As a result of Nancy's dedication and teaching style she now is speaking close to age expectations and continues to advance in so many areas we have increased her sessions to twice per week. We don't know what we would have done if we did not find Nancy to help our daughter as we did not have the same confidence and love for our previous speech therapists.

Mike & Dawn A., parents of a 4 year old

Autism and Behavior Help

Rayleen Nevis, of Rocklin, is equally hopeful about the progress of her son, Brandin Nute, 5. Nute was diagnosed at age 2 with autistic tendencies that only affected his speech. After going from doctor to doctor and being turned away from the Mind Institute because her son's difficulties were not "severe enough," Nevis went to Barcal's office in Roseville.

"We met her and our whole lives changed," says Nevis, who says that Barcal was reassuring, comforting and sincere from the outset.

"These things happen. I think the biggest thing is to get some help and do it early before it turns into a behavior problem," says Barcal. "And to decrease the stress on the parent. I think as parents we feel awfully guilty and beat up on ourselves so much. No one is the perfect parent. Knowing when to ask for help should be encouraged and commended."

At the age of 3, Nute was unable to communicate using words. Frustrated by his lack of communication skills, his mom says he resorted to screaming. For about eight months, Barcal worked with Nute and trained Nevis how to reinforce sessions at home. She even recorded sessions so that Nute could repeat the lessons at home.

"She took him from complete non-verbal to complete communication," says Nevis. "I'll never be able to repay her for what she has done. She's the most kind, generous and gifted person I've ever met."

Two years later, Nevis still sees Barcal on a consulting basis, but says her son is ready to tackle kindergarten next year.

"She's my miracle worker," says Nevis.

From an article in the Granite Bay View; August 2005

Dyslexia, learning disabilities and memory concerns

Nancy meets your child where they're at - emotionally, developmentally, socially, and physically. She tailors a program to meet the needs of the child rather than using a cookie cutter program that the child must adapt to. Nancy readily suggests other avenues of support where needed and is a wealth of information for resources on how to be the best advocate you can be for your child. I have and will continue to recommend Nancy to other parents looking for real life solutions for their child.

D.H. of Granite Bay, CA

Learning disabilities, word finding and memory concerns

Nancy has been a guiding light in my sons life since he was 4 ½. John came to Nancy after we noticed that John did not seem to be retaining many concepts (especially the alphabet) during his preschool years. As kindergarten was approaching I began to really pay attention. In the morning he would be shown and worked with a letter for 15 to 20 minutes until he seemed to have a firm grip on its name and sound. Sometimes as soon as hours later we would begin what should have been review of that letter and he would act as if he had never seen it before.

When we realized that John was not faking this and it was a recurring theme with everyday things we decided to have him tested for a learning disability. This is when we began our work with Nancy. Immediately she knew just how to bond with John and build his confidence and self esteem. Her therapy strategies have saved John from falling into a world of defeat and instead he understands that he can learn and remember concepts by using some strategies to help him be successful. This is also in part because I did not wait for the school to decide he had a disability. Unless your child has a really severe disability it can easily be missed or considered not bad enough for any intervention. This results in year after year of feeling dumb and embarrassment.

Eventually children will accept this view of themselves and it is usually too late. John is entering the 3rd grade and because of Nancy's knowledge, experience and true love of children my son really believes that he is not dumb and that some things take him a little longer. He also knows that he will be successful and is not afraid of the work to get it done. He is so brave! Nancy showed him this and showed me how to as well.

Sincerely,

Leisa Hood