About Graceful Speech

Graceful Speech, a private fee-for-service speech therapy clinic in San Jose, opened its doors at the end of July 2007. We will open an office in Los Gatos on April 1, 2009.

Our mission is to help children and adults learn how to learn and use language to help them meet their educational, social, and professional goals.

Birds are often symbols of grace. In Japanese lore, the crane or tsuru is also a symbol of longevity and health. I have been told that when a baby is born sickly or with a handicap, a name derived from the word tsuru is sometimes given for good luck. For example, a baby girl might be named Tsuruko. After the baby recovers or overcomes the handicap, then the name that was planned for the baby is given.

About Kristi Conley

Kristi Conley, the program director and primary therapist at Graceful Speech, has15 years of experience as a speech-language pathologist. She has worked in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, a pediatric clinic, and at SJSU as a practicum supervisor. She taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at Golden Gate Language School and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at two different English conversation schools in Japan. In the past she was a tutor at Evergreen Valley Community College and for six summers was a leader at the East Valley YMCA. Click Here to download Kristi's curriculum vitae.

She holds the following degrees from San Jose State University:

• MA in Speech Pathology
• BA in Communication Disorders
• BA in Spanish Literature
• Certificate in Technical Writing

She holds the following certifications and licenses:

• ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence
• California license to practice speech pathology
• CBEST
• Adult Education teaching credential

She is a member of the following organizations:

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
• California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA)
• Santa Clara County Speech-Language-Hearing Association (SCCSHA)
• Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL)

About Edward Rooks

Edward Rooks teaches art classes and co-teaches a language-enrighment through art program at Graceful Speech. He is a naturalist  and award winning wildlife artist living in San Jose. He gives drawing workshops, leads nature tours and creates wildlife paintings using acrylic paint. Edward’s illustrations appear in biological journals, nature magazines, booklets, newsletters and on a brochure of the Asa Wright Nature Centre. Edward grew up on the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, where he worked as a naturalist in the rainforest at the Asa Wright Nature Centre. He graduated from Syracuse University with a B.F.A. in Illustration in 1983 and moved to California with his wife Janice in 1988.

Edward’s painting of Trinidad's Oilbirds won a 1st place award in a juried art show at the Los Gatos Art Gallery in 1994. His painting of a California Tiger Salamander won the 1st place award in the California Department of Fish and Game's Native Species Stamp Contest in 1994. His Golden Trout appeared on the California Sport Fishing License in 1993. He designed a wine label for Johnston's Vineyard of Napa Valley, that won a Gold Medal in the label contest of the New World International Wine Competition in 1996. Three Calendars based on some of his illustrations have been sold in Trinidad and Tobago. 

Edward has given workshops on sketching birds at his local Audubon Society chapter, at the annual Central Valley Birding Symposium in Stockton California. He led several nature tours to Trinidad and Tobago for the Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris of Saratoga, and is one of the Cheesemans’ staff members on their Antarctica Expeditions. He also occasionally works for Santa Clara University's International Programs.

See his art at www.rooksart.com.