A gift from the California Scottish Rite Foundation will allow University of the Pacific to expand free language and speech therapy for hundreds of Stockton children each year.

Nearly $1 million will support the RiteCare Childhood Language Center of Stockton, where Pacific student clinicians have provided no-cost services to children with speech, language and literacy disorders for more than 40 years.

“This gift will open so many doors for us,” said Ashley Kramer ’10, ’11, clinic director and assistant clinical professor of speech-language pathology. “There are so many speech and language needs in the Stockton community. The foundation’s support will allow us to grow our program, get more clinicians working with families, and get more kids’ needs met.”

The California Scottish Rite Foundation helps children ages 2-18 improve their communication skills and self-confidence. The foundation oversees 19 RiteCare clinics throughout the state, seven of which partner with universities. Clients have a variety of medical, developmental and neurological conditions, such as Down syndrome, autism and hearing loss, which can result in speech and language, fluency and voice disorders.

Pacific has operated the Stockton clinic since 1982.

“Pacific is a valuable partner because they provide student clinicians who get to learn hands-on, and their expertise allows us to keep up with the growth of the profession,” said foundation trustee Roger Moore.

“As with any health field, things change rapidly—there are new procedures, new best practices—and running our own clinic, we’d be stuck in the same place. There wouldn’t be professional growth. In my mind, this partnership is a win-win, and the children are the big winners.”

Pacific is one of only a handful of universities in the country that offer clinical experience for undergraduate speech-language pathology majors. Students work directly with clients and their families, providing free services while also obtaining the clinical hours they need to graduate.   

Students as early as junior year begin by observing, then progress to running sessions and eventually are assigned to their own clients. They conduct intake assessments, devise treatment plans and goals and write progress reports at the end of each semester.

“It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and learn about a diagnosis or treatment approach, but to work with a real-live person, to connect with the client and their parents, requires an entirely different skill set, and you can’t replace that,” Kramer said. “Students are so much more confident and prepared for graduate school after two years working with the kids. It really gives them an advantage.”

RiteCare is a valuable resource for families whose schools don’t offer speech therapy or whose children don’t qualify for it. Private therapy can be costly—Kramer estimates $200-$300 for an assessment and $150 an hour for treatment—and insurance often covers a limited number of sessions. The need in Stockton is significant: Pacific students served more than 400 in 2024, with waitlists remaining long.

The clinic also educates families about the resources available to them, empowering parents to advocate for their children.

“Pacific’s partnership with Scottish Rite merges two of the university’s core commitments:  providing experiential learning opportunities for students and serving the underserved in our community,” said Pacific President Christopher Callahan. “Stockton has a pressing need for these services, and seeing our students supported to address it every day is phenomenal.”

School of Health Sciences Dean Nicoleta Bugnariu agrees.

“Long-term partnerships like the one we have with California Scottish Rite are crucial to enhancing educational opportunities for our students,” she said. “Students are learning to become well-rounded clinicians while providing sorely needed healthcare services for the communities where our campuses are located. We are deeply grateful for the foundation’s continued support.”

Learn more about the services offered through the RiteCare Childhood Language Center of Stockton.

To support Pacific’s speech-language pathology programs, contact Lana Watts, senior assistant dean for advancement, at 916.325.4656 or lwatts@pacific.edu.