They Said ...

ITRP: Independent Third Party Review Panel

"In founding their company the two owners recognized the fact that there are over 250,000 foreign born residents in the Detroit area. They knew from experience...that there were people looking for and in need of assistance in learning to speak English clearly and correctly."

"Accent Reduction has its home office at 29688 Telegraph, Southfield MI. Ample parking is available and the facility is well maintained."

"In addition to the Compton Institute for Language and Phonology certification Ms. Fairbrother has a BA and a MA in Speech Pathology from WSU. She is a fellow of ASHA and has received the Honors of the Michigan Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Ms. Jacobs has her BS in Speech Pathology from WMU and her MA in Speech Pathology from EMU. All told, it would be difficult to find two better-trained instructors to teach in the field of accent reduction and speech improvement than these two individuals."

Speech Pathologists Put Accent on Communicating Distinctly

The Oakland Press By JENNIFER CHAMBERS

Ellen Fairbrother and Linda Jacobs want to help others become better communicators by reducing something in their speech--foreign accents. "Clients of Accent Reduction Inc., typically have a medium to high level of competency in English but are frustrated with how they sound. Once they have found us, they are so happy to see us. They say they are tired of having to repeat themselves, and the questioning looks from people," Jacobs said. Fairbrother heard about an accent reduction program at a speech pathology seminar and brought the idea back to Michigan where she and Jacobs decided to start a business offering it as a service. "Our goal is not to eliminate the accent--that's very hard to do and most people don't want to get rid of it 100 percent. Our emphasis is to make the person more intelligible in the American workplace." "Our program, through time-tested guidance and exercises, enables individuals to open doors and windows of opportunity once closed to them," Fairbrother said.

El Central

Two women-owned businesses have joined together to provide more comprehensive language services to foreign-born individuals who are working or living in the metropolitan Detroit area.

PALS, a Troy-based company under the leadership of Brenda Arbelaez, provides ESL classes to teach spoken and written English.

However, having a good command of English vocabulary and grammar is not sufficient if the individual's spoken English is not intelligible. "This is where Accent Reduction Inc. plays an important role, says Ms. Fairbrother, a speech-language pathologist with more than 30 years of experience, "We begin where ESL ends," adds Ms. Jacobs , also a speech-language pathologist.

Because of the complimentary nature of the services offered, it seemed natural for the two companies to form an alliance. "In this way," states Ms. Arbelaez, "we can provide more thorough and comprehensive services to our clients."

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