Certified Speech-Language Pathologist
After graduating from high school in Long Beach, Calif., Ann looked over a list of professions associated with medicine, noted how varied speech-language pathology was, and knew what she wanted to do. She went on to achieve her Master’s degree at CSU, Ft. Collins and her Doctorate in Communication Disorders from CU Boulder.
Ann fell in love with Fort Collins and was passionate and dedicated to her profession and the Fort Collins community. Highly regarded in her field, she set a high standard of excellence and provided a large spectrum of services and staffing only the best practitioners. As a strong, caring clinician, she excelled in the art of teaching both clients and colleagues and enjoyed developing programs, therapy techniques, and materials. Her greatest joy came from working with the fun and talented group at SLSC and developing caring relationships with her clients and their families. Beyond her involvement in the local community, Ann served in the role of president as well as other offices for the Colorado Speech, Language and Hearing Association.
While Ann lost her 15 year “dance” with breast cancer in 2014, it was her desire for her life’s work to continue. We are honored that Ann’s dream was achieved and we can carry on her tireless capacity and dedication to help all those in need through her teachings, expertise and legacy here at SLSC!
Clinical Philosophy from SLSC Founder Ann Pendley Ph.D (1955-2014)
When I first started the Speech & Language Stimulation Center, Inc., I wanted to develop a symbol to express my philosophy of therapy. I spent hours with a graphic artist looking over Japanese symbols and other art books. The image above is what we developed. The modified palm fronds are symbolic of communication. The crane represents communication between the heavens and the earth. The concept of the fronds going in a circle shows how one has to do some things over and over (stimulation) to really get it. The fronds that stick out from the circle show that sometimes you have to break away from the routine and do things a little differently. The space in the middle of the circle is a reminder to listen, observe, and simply let things come into that open space – often that’s where the answers are. The colors remind us of the sky and the earth – to look up (to breathe) and down (to feel our feet on the ground).
