
Play Is the Point: How Stephanie Feero Built a Therapy Tool Kids Actually Love
From The Growth Lab Podcast by Luba Patlakh-Kaplun
May 5, 2026 · 33 min · Season 4 · Episode 2
About this episode
Luba Patlakh-Kaplun interviews Stephanie Feero about her journey in creating Chomper Champs, a play-based speech therapy tool.
What happens when a pediatric SLP gets tired of reinventing the wheel before every session and decides to build something better? Luba sits down with Stephanie Feero, MS, CCC-SLP and founder of Chomper Champs, a speech therapy companion tool born in a feeding therapy room and now shipping to SLPs across the country. They talk about why play-based therapy produces better outcomes, how Stephanie went from a single janky 3D printer to a growing subscription box business, and what it actually takes to turn a clinical idea into a real product. Stephanie also gets honest about clinician burnout, the pressure SLPs put on themselves to create custom materials, and why low-prep tools aren't a shortcut. They're just good clinical sense. Check out Chomper Champs here: https://www.chomperchamps.com 00:00 Welcome & intro to Stephanie Feero 01:36 Stephanie's path to becoming an SLP 05:28 Building Chomper Champs from her home workshop 08:41 Why fun is the driver of progress, not a distraction 12:00 From janky prototype to version 30 19:16 Advice for SLPs with an idea but no time 26:17 Preventing clinician burnout & what's next for Chomper Champs 29:50 Where to find Stephanie &…
People in this episode
Host: Luba Patlakh-Kaplun
Guest: Stephanie Feero
Topics covered
- speech therapy
- play-based therapy
- clinician burnout
- product development
- entrepreneurship
Keywords
- speech therapy
- Chomper Champs
- play-based therapy
- clinician burnout
- product development
- SLP
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Chomper Champs, SLP
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