Therapist Feature: Reneé Losey

This month, we are shining a light on one of our talented Speech-Language Pathologists, Reneé Losey!

Reneé obtained her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Nevada State College in Henderson, NV before moving to Reno, NV to pursue a Master’s in Speech-Pathology and Audiology. She also completed a post baccalaureate year to acquire additional credits needed to begin the Master’s program at University of Nevada, Reno. Her combined experience in the field amount to about 17 years, and Reneé has worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist for nearly three years. 

Reneé has experience working in the school setting, Early Intervention, a quick rotation in the acute care hospital setting, outpatient clinic for both adults and pediatrics, as well as her current role in mobile therapy.

Starting out in the Clark County School District, Reneé worked as a paraprofessional in special education classrooms. This work led to a teacher referring Reneé to families who needed ABA therapists, which she did for five years. While she gained skills in behavioral interventions, she was hired as a public service intern until she became a developmental specialist working in Early Intervention in Las Vegas. During this time, she was working with a variety of other professionals, including occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, and nutritionists. Reneé truly loved providing the language therapies and learned everything she could from her colleagues. She has been a member of the Tilton’s Therapy team since July of 2020.

The versatility of the profession is one aspect Reneé loves most about speech therapy. Because she is able to work with individuals throughout the lifespan (birth through geriatrics), there is so much that therapists can do. 

“Most people think we work on just speech and/or language skills. Not only do we target those skills, we work on SO much more like cognitive skills, independent activities of daily living, voice disorders, fluency (stuttering), pragmatic skills (social skills), and feeding and swallowing, just to name a few!”

Reneé has worked with individuals with Autism since she started her path to becoming a speech-language pathologist and she feels confident working with these individuals. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Nevada Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (NvLEND) program, which is a leadership program through the University of Nevada, Reno’s NCED (Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities). This program is for a variety of professionals, advocates, and individuals who work with or are individuals that are neurodiverse. The goal of the program is to improve the health of individuals with autism and other disabilities by preparing practicing professionals, parents, and graduate trainees to assume leadership roles in their respective fields by developing high levels of interdisciplinary clinical competence. 

Reneé was born just outside of Chicago (“go CUBBIES!”) in Indiana, but lived in Las Vegas, NV for the majority of her life. She moved to Reno in 2015 and has had no regrets since. Originally she was concerned about herself as a desert dweller moving to a colder climate, but she feels it has been refreshing to enjoy four seasons each year. Reneé appreciated Northern Nevada for some many reasons: the weather, Lake Tahoe, family-friendly activities, a laid-back mountain atmosphere, and overall, the kind demeanor of the people in the community. 

In her spare time, Reneé loves to spend time outside when the weather is nice — especially in her favorite place, Lake Tahoe. She also enjoys camping, beach days, and spending time with her family. She, along with her husband and son, enjoy going on bike rides and hikes.

“We play a LOT of games and it gets pretty competitive (see: married to a twin who is the MOST competitive person I have ever met. He brings it out in me!)”

Aside from work, Reneé is passionate about photography and cooking. Last year, her New Year’s resolution was to improve her baking skills (sourdough bread, anyone?), and this year, her resolution is to learn new cooking techniques and recipes. Reneé stated, “so far, so good!”

Reneé enjoys providing services to her patients in their natural environment and educating parents in real time while she is providing treatment, which can prove difficult in other settings. She also enjoys having a short break in between patients, which allows her to decompress when needed, or self-reflect on how each session went and assess what worked or didn’t work to improve her skills. 

Thank you Reneé, for your dedication to education and stellar treatment for your patients! We look forward to seeing all that you continue to do as a Speech-Language Pathologist.