About Claire Costello, MS, CCC-SLP
I help multilingual doctors, nurses, and pilots communicate with the clarity their expertise deserves, not by erasing an accent, but by refining the specific speech patterns that get in the way when pressure is highest.
My Background
I am a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with 35 years of clinical experience, nationally certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) and licensed in New York State. I hold a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Syracuse University.
I also hold a specialist certification in accent modification, a focused credential that goes beyond general SLP training and reflects the specific clinical work of helping professionals refine speech clarity in a second language. It's the reason this coaching is grounded in method, not intuition.
That clinical foundation is what separates this work from accent apps, generic courses, and language tutoring. Speech-language pathology trains you to hear what's actually happening in someone's speech, not just what sounds different, but why, and what to do about it.
Why Healthcare and Aviation
After decades of clinical work, I kept returning to the same observation: highly competent professionals whose speech becomes harder to follow under pressure. Not because their English is weak. Not because they lack expertise. Because under stress, during rounds, handoffs, briefings, critical communications , speech patterns shift in ways that create real clarity barriers.
This isn't a language problem. It's a speech clarity problem. And it's exactly what clinical speech-language pathology training prepares me to address.
I focus exclusively on healthcare and aviation because these are the fields where communication clarity has direct consequences — for patient safety, for flight safety, for professional credibility, and for the trust that has to exist between a provider and the people depending on them.
My Approach
This is clinical speech work, not language teaching.
I use evidence-based methods from speech-language pathology to address the specific patterns affecting your professional clarity, rhythm and stress, vowel and consonant precision, intonation, pacing, and connected speech. Not as isolated drills, but as they function together in the real situations you face at work.
Every program is built around your specific speech patterns, your first language influences, your professional role, and the communication demands that matter most in your setting. A cardiology resident presenting during rounds has different clarity needs than a commercial pilot on radio with ATC. The coaching reflects that.
What Makes This Work Different
The goal is not to make you sound American. It's to make your speech reliable in American English professional setting, clear and authoritative even when you're stressed, rushed, or managing high cognitive load.
That distinction matters. Accent elimination programs ask you to replace who you are. This work identifies the specific patterns affecting your clarity and refines those, so your speech functions at the level your expertise already does, without asking you to become someone else.
Who I Work With
I work with multilingual professionals who are fluent in English and competent in their field, doctors, nurses, pilots, and healthcare and aviation leaders who are asked to repeat themselves more than they should be, whose speech becomes less clear under pressure, or who want their communication to reflect the level of expertise they've already earned.
This coaching is not for basic English language learners or general ESL students. It's for professionals whose English is strong and whose speech clarity is the specific barrier, the person who knows exactly what they need to say and needs it to land with the precision and authority the moment requires.
My Philosophy
Accents are not problems to be fixed. They are part of your identity, your history, and the linguistic intelligence it takes to operate professionally in more than one language.
What I address is something more specific: the patterns that make speech harder to follow in high-stakes professional environments, particularly under pressure. When those patterns are refined, communication becomes more reliable, and the accent remains exactly what it should be, a marker of where you've been and what you've built.
My job is to help you communicate with the clarity and authority your expertise deserves, without asking you to sound like someone you're not.
How I Work
All coaching is one-on-one, conducted online via Zoom with flexible scheduling. Sessions are built around evidence-based clinical methods and focused on the real professional situations you face — not scripted drills or generic exercises. The goal is lasting change: speech patterns that improve automatically, not just when you're consciously monitoring them.
Every client relationship begins with a free 15-minute Speech Clarity Diagnostic. Before we meet, I'll ask you to send a one-minute audio recording — you speaking naturally, in a work context if possible. That gives me time to listen before our call, so the 15 minutes is spent on specific, personalized feedback rather than general impressions. By the time we talk, I've already identified your top three clarity patterns and what to work on first.
No pressure, no obligation.
What Clients Say
"I wish I'd done this sooner. I've been feeling so frustrated when I could have fixed it sooner." — Dr. P., Internal Medicine Resident
"After four weeks, my attending stopped interrupting to ask for repeated lab values. My evaluations improved: 'Clear communicator, confident presenter.'" — Dr. M., Cardiology Resident
"The difference wasn't my accent — it was three specific patterns Claire identified. Once I refined those, ATC communications became consistently clear." — Captain R., Commercial Pilot
Beyond the Credentials
When I'm not coaching, I'm cooking, playing pickleball, gardening, or working with horses. I genuinely love this work — there's nothing quite like watching a highly competent professional go from holding back to speaking with complete confidence, knowing their expertise will be heard clearly the first time.
Ready to Get Started?
The first step is the free Speech Clarity Diagnostic. Send me a one-minute recording beforehand, and by the time we meet, I'll already have your top three clarity patterns identified and a clear picture of where to begin.
Book Your Free Clarity Diagnostic → Clarity Diagnostic
View Coaching Programs →Accent Coaching
Contact Claire → Claire
