Eileen Olson

Small Talk U was founded by Eileen Olson, a seasoned Speech Language Pathologist with more than 17 years of experience. Ms. Olson holds a Masters Degree in speech pathology from the University of Tulsa as well as a Texas license. While serving as a Speech Pathologist at some of Houston’s largest and most reputable institutions such as Texas Children’s Hospital, Ms. Olson witnessed first-hand the important role that parents play as the primary teachers of their children. Furthermore, she recognized the need to raise awareness of normal communication development and its ties to literacy. These realizations combined with documented declines in literacy rates, increased drop-out rates, and global competition in the highly technical job market were the catalysts for the development of Small Talk U.

Using her extensive experience in normal and disordered speech and language development, Ms. Olson developed the Small Talk U program from evidence based, multidisciplinary research. The program focuses on teaching parents and classroom teachers how to increase both the quantity of language exposure and the quality of the linguistic environment. The Small Talk U program is unique in that it:

• Recognizes and utilizes parents as the most important language and literacy resources for children
• Targets language and literacy development proactively in the birth –to-five year old population
• Utilizes a consulting model verses a clinical model of service delivery
• Teaches parents and classroom educators how to incorporate the techniques into daily routines using existing materials and resources