Hi, I’m Stephanie.

As a pediatric speech therapist and mom, my passion lies in early intervention. I've witnessed firsthand how even small changes can lead to significant improvements in a child’s communication skills, especially when addressed early on.

I understand the challenges of balancing a never-ending to-do list and the pressure of feeling like you need to carve out extra time to focus on communication at home. That’s why I created Toddler Talk — to give parents access to reliable information about early speech and language development and to help you make informed decisions for your child.

My goal is to show you that supporting your child’s communication doesn't require large blocks of extra time. You can seamlessly incorporate simple strategies into your daily routine, turning everyday moments into opportunities for language growth. After all, nothing beats the 1:1 interactions our children have with us, and it’s in those moments where real progress happens.

Helping you turn everyday moments and play into simple ways for your little one to grow and communicate.

My journey to Toddler Talk…

I’ve been a pediatric speech therapist for 8 years. I earned my undergraduate degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Boston University and my Master of Science from Columbia University in New York City.

In 2016, I moved to Southern California and began working at a pediatric hospital, where I provided speech therapy to children in both inpatient and outpatient settings. During the pandemic, I had the wild idea to start Toddler Talk, and since launching, I've had the privilege of supporting families all over the world in building communication skills at home. Toddler Talk has grown beyond my expectations, with over half a million users visiting our website in the past year!

As a mom, this journey feels like the perfect fit. I love helping other moms navigate their own parenting experiences, and Toddler Talk allows me the flexibility to be home with my son—and soon, my new baby daughter!

It takes a village!

Toddler Talk wouldn’t be what it is today without the help of other talented speech therapists and moms! As they say, it takes a village. Get to know our incredible speech therapists and moms.

Stephanie Burgener-Vader is a ASHA certified speech-language pathologist practicing in California. She has over 14 years of experience working with young children and their families to develop early language and communication skills. She additionally has specialties in motor speech disorders, acquired brain injury, genetic disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
Stephanie has a BA in Socio-Cultural Linguistics as well as a MA in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences. She has worked in pediatrics both at private practice and hospital settings. She currently works at a children’s hospital providing speech and language intervention to children in outpatient and inpatient settings.
Stephanie lives in California with her husband, two children, and large squishy orange cat named Thorvald. She enjoys baking, cooking, reading, and gardening. Her favorite thing to do on the weekend is relax, but she is typically cleaning or fixing things instead. She and her children can usually be found making forts out of random things around the house and trying to convince the cat to come inside. She believes that developing an imagination is a critical childhood skill and encourages creative play both at home and in her clinical practice.

Yvette Fraire Bostick is an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist, licensed in Texas. She has 11 years of experience evaluating and treating children with speech and language disorders, and working with their families. Her areas of expertise include early intervention (Birth-3), bilingual/multilingual families, children with autism spectrum disorder, working with children with hearing loss, treating oral-motor speech disorders, and working on multidisciplinary teams to provide evaluations and support for children with complex needs and their caregivers.
Yvette earned her BS in Communication Sciences and disorders from the University of Texas at Austin and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Since then, she has worked across settings including: local school districts, private practices, Home Health, Texas Early Childhood Intervention Services, and the children’s hospital in San Diego.
Yvette believes in working on the whole child. It is her passion to support families and caregivers to have the tools and resources needed to help their child. It brings her so much joy to see families learn how to play together and learn together.
Yvette enjoys spending time with her friends and family. Yvette lives in Texas with her husband, who serves in the United State Marine Corps, and their two sons. She enjoys going on daily adventures with her sons to the park, Costco, gymboree, and outside to play with the neighbors. She enjoys seeing her sons learn new things and develop new skills everyday. When she has time to herself, Yvette enjoys anything related to food, shopping at local markets, and going on lunch dates with girlfriends.

Melissa Sartori is an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist, licensed and practicing in California. She has 12 years of experience evaluating and treating both monolingual and bilingual children with speech and language disorders, and working with their families. Additional areas of expertise include: early intervention (Birth-3), autism spectrum disorder, hearing loss, assistive technology, and feeding disorders.
Melissa earned both her BS (majored in Speech-Language Pathology and Spanish) and MS in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of the Pacific, in Stockton California. Since then, she has worked across settings including: the local school district, a private practice, and a children’s hospital. She is currently working at the children’s hospital in San Diego, California, primarily in the outpatient setting.
When not working as a speech-language pathologist, Melissa enjoys spending time with her family. She lives in California with her nurse-practitioner husband and their preschool aged daughter. They also have another baby girl on the way. With her family time, she enjoys supporting elaborate pretend play schemes, playing games, going on playdates, and making a huge mess of the house! She does not enjoy the cleanup of said house disasters though. During downtime, she also enjoys doing crafts and scrapbooking, game nights, reading and taking naps when she has time to herself.