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Welcome to Words of Life Speech Therapy Services. We service the Greater San Diego area. Contact Us today!

Services

Services offered:
In-home consultations
Parent/school conferences
Professional workshops
            Developmental speech and language milestones
            Bolstering your child’s speech and language skills
            Cultivating pragmatic (social) language skills
            Communicating effectively with a person with Aphasia
            Safe swallowing and feeding techniques for adults (Dysphagia)       
            Healthcare: reducing risks/complications of aspiration
            Optimizing healthy vocal use for the professional

Assessment and treatment for:
Pediatric Speech:
– Articulation delay
– Apraxia
– Phonological disorders

Pediatric Language:
– Receptive and/or expressive language delay
– Pragmatics/ social language

Adult Speech:
– Dysarthria
– Vocal dysfunction (requires ENT consult prior to treatment)
– Stuttering/dysfluency
– Speaking valve use

Adult Language:
– Aphasia (following stroke, TBI, cancer)
– Basic alternative augmentative communication
– Cognitive-communicative deficits

Adult Swallowing:
– Oropharyngeal dysphagia (requires instrumental evaluation via VFSS or FEES prior to treatment)

Common reasons for choosing a private pay clinician:

  • Adjunct services to school-based therapy
  • “Filling in the gaps” over school vacations
  • Less severe deficits which do not qualify for school-based services
  • Services not covered by insurance carrier
  • Exhaustion of insurance benefits
  • High deductable for insurance plans
  • Convenience of in-home or location-based services


Resources

Helpful Links:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
American Stroke Association
Parkinson’s Foundation

Video Links:
2016 Stroke Camp for Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Stroke Support Group
2017 Stroke Camp for Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Stroke Support Group

About

Kennis Furuya Bishop, M.S./CCC-SLP is a licensed, certified Speech-Language Pathologist with over 20 years of clinical experience in her fields of expertise.


1993 – University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
B.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences

1997 – Boston University, MA
M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology

1998 – Hoag Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA
Clinical Fellowship in medical Speech-Language Pathology


Kennis has practiced speech-language pathology at the acute care, transitional care, and outpatient levels of healthcare in both California and Massachusetts.  She has also consulted for public schools across the continuum, from preschool through high school.  Early in graduate school, she earned acceptance into a selective government grant program to focus on independent team assessments of children in urban school settings, and later into a clinical chaplaincy fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital.  Both of these specialized training programs strengthened her development in multi-disciplinary care and treating the whole person.  She was awarded special recognition for her excellence and compassion in clinical care, teamwork, and innovation at a system-wide level within her healthcare organization over 15 years.  When she relocated from Massachusetts in 2018, she left her position as Supervisor of SLP services at a Harvard medical school-affiliated teaching hospital in Boston.

In 2019, Kennis returned to her roots in Southern California and decided to open a private practice in the Eastlake area of Chula Vista, CA in San Diego County.  She sees children and adults, providing speech and language intervention across the lifespan.  Seeing clients in their homes or natural environments, Kennis believes in collaborating with her clients and their families for the most meaningful outcomes and natural carryover.

Testimonials

Thanks for all the help you gave me.  Grrrreat job.” M.K., pediatric articulation client

“This is a 1st day of school pic of xxx. We couldn’t have gotten him into such a special school without you.  He loves it!”  S.C., parent

“I can’t thank you enough for all your time and effort in helping me to regain/maintain my thought process ~ you truly are the best.”  C.R., stroke client

“We cannot thank you enough for what you did for my father.  You have proven that there are some truly good people in the world.”  L.D., family member of patient

“My sessions with Kennis were not many, but I left feeling rehabilitated and with a plan to continue that process on my own… I so appreciate Kennis and want you to know what a valuable service she provides and how valuably she provides it.”  A.S., outpatient

“(Therapy) has, over the months, helped me to regain much of the ability I lost!  This was uncharted territory I think, but you did extensive research and evaluations to determine what would help me most.  Regaining my ability physically meant regaining my ability to express myself as an artist, and gave me my career back.”  H.S., outpatient

“I feel so lucky and grateful to have the opportunity to work and learn from you, both inpatient and outpatient, from Stroke Support Group, to FEES and more.  I was able to learn and grow exponentially as a clinician.”  L.A., Clinical Intern

“I couldn’t let the day go by without telling you how incredibly proud and impressed I am to know you personally, and to work in the same organization as such gifted and compassionate clinicians… but today proves what extraordinary individuals you are, to have extended your skills and your hearts in such a meaningful way.”  R.S., hospital administrator

“I want to share with you a copy of a letter of appreciation from a grateful patient… You truly exemplify our mission of “excellence in patient care services, provided in a learning environment with dignity, compassion and respect.”  Thanks for making such a profound and meaningful impact on this patient’s care and experience.”  M.G., hospital administrator

“The above patient has asked me to prepare a note to recognize the efforts of Kennis Furuya Bishop, M.S./CCC-SLP. The above patient has struggled with multiple medical issues and feels that the first person to truly spend time with her and help her was Ms. Bishop.  I think it is important to recognize when people do well in this job because most often we only hear about when things do not go right.”  Dr. J.B., primary physician of outpatient