About our authors

Kathleen R. Fahey, Ph.D. is professor emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado. She authored editions 5 (2011), 6 (2015), and 7 of Born to Talk: An Introduction to Speech and Language Development. Dr. Fahey co-authored Language Development, Differences, and Disorders: A Perspective for General and Special Education Teachers and Classroom-Based Speech-Language Pathologists in 2000, published by Pro-Ed. She taught undergraduate and graduate courses in speech-language pathology from 1993 to 2017 including normal language development, language disorders in young children, language disorders in school-age children, diagnostic procedures, phonological disorders and clinical intervention strategies. She was active in state associations focusing on recruitment and retention of professionals in the schools.

Lloyd M. Hulit, Ph.D. is professor emeritus at Illinois State University. He was senior author of the 1st edition (1993) through 6th edition (2015) of Born to Talk: An Introduction to Speech and Language Development. Dr. Hulit authored 3 textbooks on stuttering: Stuttering Therapy: A Guide to the Charles Von Riper Approach; Stuttering in Perspective; and Straight Talk on Stuttering. Dr. Hulit authored 14 journal articles and published papers. His passion was teaching in the areas of fluency disorders, phonological disorders and language development.

Merle R. Howard, Ph.D. was a respected colleague and beloved friend to Dr. Hulit. Dr. Howard passed away on July 8, 2013. They wrote the 1st edition of Born to Talk: An Introduction to Speech and Language Development, published in 1993, while they were colleagues at Illinois State University. Dr. Howard coauthored the 2nd through 5th editions (2011) of the text. Dr. Howard's teaching career spanned 35 years, focusing on neuropathology, language development and many other topics. He was also the director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at the close of his career.