Meet Small Strides

Small Strides is a private pediatric practice offering speech and language assessment and treatment to young children across Evanston, Wilmette and Winnetka.

Katie Brourman, a professional speech and language pathologist, provides services in the convenience and comfort of her clients’ homes, at participating preschool/childcare settings and virtually, via teletherapy.

Katie launched small strides with the intention of continuing to deliver high quality and personalized services while simultaneously prioritizing a “whole child”, family-focused approach. 

With fun at the forefront, Katie engages her students, primarily 2 to 5 years of age, in motivating and challenging ways by incorporating their unique interests. In addition to her progress driven practice, Katie encourages effort and fosters a growth mindset with her students.

Nothing brings Katie greater joy than to watch her students gain momentum on their path towards becoming confident and effective communicators. 

Meet the Provider

Katie Brourman

Experience

For the past 20 years, Katie has worked with children across a variety of pediatric settings including schools (public, private, therapeutic day), clinical settings (rehabilitation, hospital) and early intervention. 

During her time working at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s hospital of Chicago, Katie gained valuable experience serving as a multidisciplinary team member for Lurie’s Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She also provided bilingual speech and language services at Lurie’s Outpatient Centers (Downtown Chicago, Lincoln Park, Glenview) and assisted in establishing a bilingual speech and language clinic for the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago in partnership with Lurie Childrens. 

Following a move to the suburbs, Katie returned to her roots as a school-based SLP and spent several years working for Wilmette Public Schools. Katie served as District 39’s Early Childhood Itinerant SLP and multidisciplinary team member for the Lechner Early Education Center.

Education

Katie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology and Audiology from Marquette University (1999) and a Master’s Degree in Communication Disorders, with a Bilingual Speciality, from New Mexico State University (2001). Katie later expanded her lens by earning a Master’s Degree in Child Development from Erikson Institute (2011), which she completed during a time period she refers to as her “studying babies while having babies and working with babies” phase. 

Background

Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Katie has resided in Milwaukee, California, New Mexico, Spain and Mexico. She currently lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her artist husband, two terrific teen children and Bernadoodle. Katie enjoys gathering with friends and family, traveling, throwing pottery and spending time outdoors. Katie also loves to dance and holds firm in her personal opinion that there is no such thing as a bad dance movie. 

Certification and Training

Katie is a nationally certified and licensed Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP). She maintains her Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) with the American Speech and Hearing Association and state license with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Katie’s professional training includes: Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP), Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets intervention (PROMPT), Beckman Oral Motor Protocol, Social Thinking Methodology, Hanen Program, and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2).

Katie has experience evaluating and treating a wide variety of pediatric communication disorders.

Current areas of focus include:

• Speech Sound Disorders

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech  

• Phonological Processing Disorder

• Articulation Disorder

• Language Delay/Disorder (Receptive and/or Expressive)

• Fluency Disorders (Stuttering, Cluttering)

• Social Communication Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorder 

• Bilingual Services: Assessment and Treatment (English/Spanish)

Katie Brourman, M.A. CCC, SLP, M.S.

Together. In Stride.