About Christie
Christie Block, MA, MS, CCC-SLP is a licensed and board-certified Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) with over 35 years of experience in the area of communication skills as a clinical specialist and teacher of speech-language pathology, English as a Second Language (ESL), public speaking, and linguistics. Her clinical expertise includes voice disorders, gender affirming voice, professional voice, stuttering, accent modification, neurological disorders, upper airway disorders, swallowing, and public speaking. As an independent provider, Christie is able to collaborate with a wide variety of otolaryngologists, gender affirming health providers, head & neck surgeons, and singing/acting specialists to provide comprehensive assessment, treatment, and training. This includes clinicians from ENT and Allergy Associates, NYU, Mt. Sinai, Columbia University, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, APICHA Community Health Center, FacialTeam, Yeson Voice Center, Dr. Michael Haben, Dr. Peak Woo, among others in New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere.
Christie is a committed advocate of the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community, and a pioneering clinical expert in gender affirming voice care. Christie’s interest in TGNC voice and gender expression developed out of her background in language and gender studies in the 1980s, her deeply-rooted curiosity about gender in society, and her commitment to gender equality for all.
Christie has played a key role in developing the field of gender affirming voice care through early clinical work, presentations, TGNC community outreach, publications, and media engagement. She has also trained hundreds of voice specialists and gender affirming health care providers through CEU courses as a co-host and invited faculty member.
Christie’s history of service extends across a wide variety of linguistic and cultural backgrounds in business, outpatient, rehabilitation, hospital, home, and academic settings. Client languages include but are not limited to the following: Chinese, Farsi, French, French-Creole, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Macedonian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, and non-standard American English dialects.
Christie holds a B.A. in Linguistics and Asian Languages and Literature (Mandarin Chinese) from the University of Iowa (1990), an M.A. in Linguistics from the Ohio State University (1994), and an M.S. in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2002).
She is a certified provider of the Lee Silverman Treatment Program (LSVT) and a provider of the SpeechEasy fluency device. She is also trained and experienced in videostroboscopy, FEES, manometry, and various speech and modalities (see the Services page on this website). Current memberships include the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the Voice Study Group, Extramural Laryngeal Rounds, and the Working Group on Gender.
