Staff
Q & A









Lynn Medley, M.S., CCC-SLP - Communication and Educational Specialist, Co-Director, MMTA
Undergraduate Degree: Vanderbilt University
Master’s Degree: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Joined MMTA in 2005
Areas of special interest:
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Conversation as a social language skill
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Social development in individuals with social language deficits
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The roles and methods of schools in teaching students with social language needs
Personal effects:
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She is a single mom of a teen boy she adores
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She is a member of the Unitarian Universalist faith and has a special interest in religious education
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She reads whenever she can and likes to get outdoors when it's not too hot
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She takes a lot of pictures, especially of her son, of barns, and of unusual patterns she sees in nature
Some things you may not know about Lynn:
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She hails from the deep south
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She once won a cow chip throwing contest at a sorghum festival (if you have no idea what that means, just ask her!)
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She is the office “handyman”
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She is addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper
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Her first paying job as an SLP was doing research on the effects of middle ear fluid on language development in low income African American children
Janice Mesaric M.S., CCC-SLP - Communication and Educational Specialist, Co-Director, MMTA
Undergraduate Degree: Loyola University, Baltimore
Master’s Degree: Loyola University, Baltimore
Joined MMTA in 2005
Areas of Special Interest:
• Oral Motor and Dyspraxia
• Children with emerging language
• Individuals whose communication abilities are compromised by complex sensory and/or motor needs
Personal Effects
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She is a single mom to two young kids
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She loves yoga and is forever trying to stretch her practice off the mat, especially breathing through the antics of her above two cherubs
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She loves to walk, hike, and go to the beach
Some things you may not know
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She is a closeted hip-hop and rap fan
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She left her heart in San Francisco
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Her guilty pleasure is reality TV and People magazine
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She zip-lined through the rain forest in Puerto Rico to acknowledge her 40th birthday
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Her curly hair didn’t emerge until she was 16 - (prior to then she got perms!)
Jill Hendricks, M.A., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: Temple University
Master’s Degree: Temple University
Joined MMTA in 2015
Areas of special interest:
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Early language development
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Voice disorders
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AAC
Personal effects:
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She is the proud mom of two cats, Link and Sasha Fierce, and a cockatiel, Mattie
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She has been an avid Beyoncé/Destiny’s Child fan for over 10 years
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She is a marathon runner
Some things you may not know about Jill:
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Jill met Lynn when she was in college, working at Starbucks, and Lynn was her customer!
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Her family immigrated to the United States from Indonesia
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She has seen Ben Folds in concert 9 times
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She is a thrift shopping and bargain hunting expert.
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She had a previous job as a wedding singer
Brittany O'Brien, M.A., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: Penn State University
Master’s Degree: Temple University
Joined MMTA in 2015
Areas of special interest:
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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech
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Social cognition in adolescents
Personal effects:
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She married her high school sweetheart in 2017
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She is a die-hard Penn State football fan (and was named "Brittany" because it rhymed with "Nittany")
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She has 24 first cousins
Some things you may not know about Brittany:
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She has been a singer her whole life, and was the director of an all-female acappella group in college (yes, just like Pitch Perfect)
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She thrives on her hidden skills of rapping and beatboxing
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Staff members at MMTA refer to her as “The Nutcracker” because she is notorious for working with clients that are self-proclaimed “tough nuts to crack”
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She spends too much of her free time on Pinterest pinning therapy materials and recipes
Lindsay Bacalles, M.S., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: Penn State University
Graduate Degree: Hofstra University
In process of getting ESL certification from Eastern University
Joined MMTA in 2010
Areas of special interest:
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Second Language Development
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Social Language Development
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School Based Speech Services
Personal Effects:
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She lives with her husband, Lee, her daughter, Olivia, and her Boston Terrier, Conshy.
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She loves to spend her summers down the shore with her extended family
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Photography is a hobby she is learning, she practices by taking pictures of Olivia and Conshy
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Running and yoga are her favorite ways to spend her free time
Some things you may not know about Lindsay:
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Her favorite treat is anything that has peanut butter and chocolate
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She loves to travel and has a long list of places she wishes to visit
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She loves to plan and organize anything – parties, a closet, and therapy are just some examples
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She has run in over a dozen half marathons, and tries to run in at least one distance run each year
Alexa Busler, M.A., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: University of Pittsburgh
Master’s Degree: University of Pittsburgh
Joined MMTA in 2017
Areas of special interest:
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Autism Spectrum Disorders
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Preschool/Early Language Development
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Childhood Fluency Disorders
Personal effects:
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She loves being active and outdoors, experimenting with new recipes, and exploring new restaurants
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She likes to spend time off traveling to new places- her favorite destination was South Africa
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She values time with friends and family, including her a twin (not identical) sister, Rachael
Some things you may not know about Alexa:
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She is a lover of coffee, cats, and murder-mystery television
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She has a strong phobia of bugs
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Her favorite holiday is Halloween
Laura DePallo
B.S. in Public Health Education from West Chester University
MBA in Healthcare Management from University of Massachusetts
Joined MMTA in 2018
Personal effects:
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She has a son that lives in Southern California and a daughter who lives in Philly
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She’s a practicing meditator
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She loves any TV show/movie with the British accent
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The beach is her happy place
Some things you may not know about Laura:
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She was born without a doctor
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She is an army brat
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She had a past career in commercial interior design
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She loves to travel
Gina Nicolosi, M.S., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: Penn State University
Graduate Degree: LaSalle University
Joined MMTA in 2019
Areas of special Interest:
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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
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Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Early Language Development
Personal effects:
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She is a huge Penn State football and Philadelphia sports fan
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She is the oldest sibling of four and her sister is ten years younger than her
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She tries to see at least one beach sunrise a year
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She has run 2 full marathons and over a dozen half-marathons in 9 different states
Some things you may not know about Gina:
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She once did the Polar Bear Plunge with Jason Kelce from the Eagles
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She has been sky-diving
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She loves doing hair and make-up for herself and other, she learned from YouTube and Pinterest!
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She has fundraised for cancer research for the past 6 years through from running the Philadelphia Half/Full Marathons
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Both of her brothers are getting married in 2020 (and she LOVES her future sisters-in-law)
Laura Giglio, M.A., CCC-SLP
Undergraduate Degree: Temple University
Master’s Degree: Temple University
Joined MMTA in 2020
Areas of special interest:
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Early language development
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Childhood apraxia of speech
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Social cognition
Personal effects:
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She grew up by the beach and loves being outdoors, especially by water
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She enjoys traveling, taking art classes, and attending concerts
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She loves plants and currently cares for more than 25 houseplants (and counting)
Some things you may not know about Laura:
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Her first job was at a singing ice cream shop where she dressed up as Snow White and sang “Part of Your World” at birthday parties
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She has a fancy leopard gecko named Lady Goodman
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She minored in Spanish and studied abroad in Spain