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 nine years 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 four 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 eight 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.
Kristi Knapp, Clinician
Kristi 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. Kristi has been working as a speech-language pathologist for 12 years. She began her career as a school-based speech-language pathologist at DePaul School for Hearing and Speech. After working in the school setting, she began to work in a local therapy center as an outpatient speech-language pathologist. She has experience working with children with a variety of diagnoses including autism spectrum disorders, childhood apraxia of speech, feeding/swallowing disorders, literacy and social pragmatics. Kristi is passionate about helping children of all ages and abilities to communicate to the best of their abilities. Kristi provides services for children in our office in Upper St. Clair as well as in preschools within the south hills.
Areas of interest: Early and emergent language development, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), apraxia of speech, phonological and articulation disorders, and children with hearing loss.
Additional training: Kristi is currently in training to become a Natural Language Acquisition (NLA) trained clinician.
Education: Kristi earned a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from Washington & Jefferson College and a Masters of Art in Speech-Language Pathology from Kent State University.
Elizabeth DeAngelo, Clinician
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.
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.