Patricia, the youngest of 7 children, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated summa cum laude from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences in 1980. She received her Master's of Arts degree from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1982. She holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. She successfully completed the rigorous board certification process through the International Association of Orofacial Myology in 1986.

Since that time, Patricia has specialized in the evaluation and treatment of motor-based speech disorders, including childhood apraxia of speech, articulation disorders, stuttering, orofacial myofunctional disorders and voice disorders in children, adolescents and adults. With extensive post graduate course work from experts in the field such as Jeri Logeman, PhD, Pam Marshalla, MA, CCC, Michael Crary, PhD, Florence Blager, PhD, CCC, Edith Strand, Ph.D, and Paul Dworkin, PhD., as well as close to 40 years of experience, Patricia is considered a local expert in the field.

Patricia served as President of the IAOM from 1999-2001 and served on the Board of Examiners of the IAOM from 1986 to 2020. She remains active in the IAOM, ASHA, CSHA and is licensed to practice in California and the US Virgin Islands.

Patricia has one son, Grant, currently a sophomore studying architecture at Cal Poly. She enjoys golf, hiking with her Springer Spaniels, and family gatherings. She thanks her lucky stars on a daily basis to be living and working in such a beautiful part of California.

Patricia is a breast cancer survivor. Diagnosed with Stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in May, 2021, she was entered into a clinical trial through UCLA Oncology/Hematology utilizing targeted antibody treatment/chemotherapy ‘light’. The results were positive; you can read about the study here.

Patricia graduated from the Cancer WellFit program in June, 2022 and has participated in the Surfing for Hope program, and is active in cancer support for survivors.

Nicole Muncal M.S., CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist and a Central Coast native who grew up in Cambria, CA. She graduated with her Bachelors degree in Communication Studies from the University of San Diego and her Masters in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from New York University. During her pursuit of her Masters degree, Nicole held externships at various settings including Children's Hospital Los Angeles in their acute care unit and completed her clinical fellowship at Children's Hospital Orange County in their pediatric outpatient rehabilitation unit.

Nicole enjoys working with patients of all ages but especially enjoys Early Intervention and working with parents to formulate realistic, functional home-programs that enable parents to feel empowered and knowledgeable about their child's communication skills. When she is not working, Nicole enjoys spending time with her husband, 1-year old daughter, and their cat. Nicole's hobbies include beach volleyball, traveling, and taking walks/getting outside. Fun Fact: Nicole has appeared on two different TV shows! Be sure to ask her about it!

Tera is CCSPOM’s Girl Friday. She is responsible for all patient communications as well as insurance claims, accounting, and billing. Tera has many years of experience with medical billing and is an Air Force wife to Brandon, and mother of two delightful young boys, Jameson, 7 and Hendrix, 2.

Tera experienced the services of CCSPOM and Patricia as the mother of a child with tongue tie and is able to soothe parent concerns as she has been in their shoes. “ I was worried about my son falling behind because of his speech. He saw Patricia for only a few sessions and his speech improved so much!” Pleased with her son’s success, Tera joined the team in 2018. We are so glad to have her!