Meet Our Speech Therapists
Find something you love, something you truly care about doing, and do it!
Racheal Berry, Owner
Racheal Berry is the founder of Berry Speech Academy. Racheal is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. She has over a decade of experience in the field. She is passionate about helping children become the most successful versions of themselves. She works with families and other therapists to create an effective and individualized therapy plan.
The majority of Racheal’s career was spent working as a school based speech-language pathologist at North Allegheny School District where she gained invaluable experience. Racheal founded Berry Speech Academy in order to best service children with speech and language delays by providing more individualized, one on one treatment.
Racheal lives in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in South Fayette with her husband, two children and dog.
Areas of interest: Early and emergent language, phonological disorders, articulation disorders, language delays, hearing impaired and gestalt language processing.
Additional training: Racheal is a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) trained clinician.
Education: Racheal earned a Bachelors of Business Administration from Ohio University where she graduated top of her class earning the Finance Student of the Year Award and a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Marjke White, Clinician
Marjke is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. Marjke has been working as a speech-language pathologist for six years. She completed her clinical fellowship working for a large hospital in Pittsburgh, PA where she worked primarily with adults in inpatient rehab. After a year in the hospital, she knew her purpose was to be working with the pediatric population. She took the initiative to gain a new position working at a specialized school for children with hearing impairments. Marjke is passionate about helping children with their communication skills. Marjke provides services for children in their home environment with Berry Speech Academy. Her territory is in the north hills of Pittsburgh.
Areas of interest: Apraxia of speech, phonological disorders, articulation disorders, language delays, and hearing impaired.
Additional training: Marjke has completed additional training in apraxia and is listed on the Child Apraxia Treatment site and Apraxia Kids.
Education: Marjke earned a Bachelors of Science from Penn State University and a Masters of Art in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Pittsburgh.
Whitney Pecovish, Clinician
Whitney is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. Whitney has ten years of experience working in a private practice and as well as experience working as a speech language pathologist at a specialized school for children with hearing impairment. Whitney is passionate about helping children with significant speech sound disorders ease their frustrations as she helps them master their communication goals. She works part time at Berry Speech Academy and sees children in our office located in the South Hills of Pittsburgh in Upper St. Clair.
Areas of interest: Apraxia of speech, preschoolers with significant speech and language delays, articulation disorders, language delays, and gestalt language processors.
Additional training: Whitney is a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) trained clinician.
Education: Whitney earned a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education, Ohio University and a Master of Arts in Speech-language pathology, The University of Pittsburgh.
Liz is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. She has been working as a speech-language pathologist for over five years in pediatric outpatient settings. She has experience working with children with a variety of diagnoses, including Autism Spectrum Disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, articulation and phonological disorders, language disorders, stuttering, and hearing loss. Liz is especially passionate about helping children communicate through alternative and augmentative communication (AAC). She seeks to help her patients achieve the most functional communication abilities possible while having a fun, meaningful experience. Liz provides speech evaluations and treatment at our office located in Upper St. Clair as well as in preschools in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.
Areas of Interest: alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), childhood apraxia of speech, articulation and phonological disorders, receptive and expressive language disorders, stuttering, and hearing loss/cochlear implants.
Additional Training: Liz is certified in Visual Phonics.
Education: Liz earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communication disorders from California University of PA and a Master of Science degree in speech-language pathology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Elizabeth (Liz) DeAngelo, Clinician
Melissa Belack, Clincian
Melissa is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. She has over six years of experience working with the pediatric population, initially working as a school-based speech-language pathologist in a private school for children with disabilities and then in the pediatric outpatient setting. She has experience working with children with a variety of diagnoses including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, stuttering, language disorders, and articulation and phonological disorders. She has a passion for supporting individuals with complex communication needs who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate and children who are Gestalt Language Processors. She seeks to provide child-led, play-based therapy to improve children’s functional communication skills. Melissa provides speech evaluations and treatment at our offices located in Wexford and Upper St. Clair.
Areas of Interest: Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Gestalt Language Processing, fluency, receptive and expressive language disorders, articulation and phonological disorders, early intervention
Additional Training: Melissa has completed additional training in the areas of Gestalt Language Processing (GLP)/Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
Education: Melissa earned her Bachelor's Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Penn State and a Masters of Art in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Pittsburgh.
Christin (CJ) Hudock, Clincian
CJ is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. CJ currently works part-time at North Allegheny School District. She has been working as a speech-language pathologist for 12 years. Prior to North Allegheny, CJ worked at The Watson Institute in Sewickley, PA, working with students with varying abilities. CJ has experience working with all ages within all settings. She also worked at a local private practice servicing kids with autism, childhood apraxia of speech, articulation/phonological disorders and receptive and expressive language disorders. CJ is passionate about working with families and children of all ages to help make communication accessible to all. CJ provides services for children in our Wexford office as well as in preschools within the North Hills.
Areas of Interest: Early and emergent language development, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), autism, phonological and articulation disorders
Additional Training: CJ has additional training in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
Education: CJ earned a Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from Duquesne University.
Courtney Avila, Clinician
Courtney is a speech-language pathologist certified through the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to practice. She has over 15 years of experience in the field.
Courtney began her career in the Fairfax County and Arlington Public School systems, where she gained extensive experience providing educational speech and language services. She later transitioned to private practice in both Virginia and Pennsylvania, working with clients ranging from toddlers to adults.
Her background includes working with children with a wide range of diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorders, cognitive impairments, phonological disorders, and language and social/pragmatic disorders. This experience has shaped her into a compassionate, child-centered clinician.
Courtney is passionate about helping children develop functional communication and effective social skills that carry over into everyday life. She currently provides services at the Wexford clinic and also works with children in daycares and preschools through Berry Speech Academy. Her service area includes the North Hills region of Pittsburgh.
Areas of interest: phonological disorders, articulation disorders, language delays, and social/pragmatic language skills
Additional training: Courtney has completed additional training in PROMPT Level 1, DTTC, and DIRFloortime, among many other early language, AAC, and articulation trainings.
Education: Courtney earned her bachelors degrees from James Madison University where she double majored in Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders. She earned a Masters of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Penn State University.
Lauren Vorbach, Clinician
Lauren is a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and holds a Pennsylvania state license to provide speech-language pathology services. Lauren has been a speech-language pathologist for 9 years. She’s worked in the pediatric outpatient setting throughout that time. She also currently works as a tele-health therapist for a school in Alaska. She has experience working with children with a variety of diagnoses including autism, childhood apraxia of speech, social/pragmatic disorders, feeding/swallowing disorders, and more. She is most passionate about Gestalt Language learning, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and social/pragmatic language. In 2023, Lauren earned the Distinguished Early Career Professional certificate from ASHA for her dedication to learning in the field. Lauren provides services for children in our office in Upper St. Clair as well as in preschools within the south hills.
Areas of interest: Social and emotional language, child-led play therapy, gestalt language learning, trauma informed care, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), and motor speech sound disorders.
Additional training: Lauren is trained in: Marge Blanc’s Naturalistic Language Acquisition (NLA) course, Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT), and the neurodiversity affirming course, Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist Intensive Training. She is in the process of receiving her postbacculareate certificate in Educating Individuals with Autism from Pennsylvania State University.
Education: Lauren earned a Bachelor of Health Sciences with a minor in Psychology and her Master’s of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Duquesne University.