We've always been more than people realized. Now we're making that visible.
For 25 years, Happy Talkers has been the place families come when they need answers about their child's development. An integrated clinical hub — speech, OT, ABA, diagnostics, and more — operating in the Tri-Valley since 2001.
It started with three questions every family was asking.
In 2001, Charlene Sigman — a speech-language pathologist, preschool director, and certified ESDM therapist — launched Happy Talkers from her rented home in Pleasanton. What began as a small effort to support children with special needs quickly transformed her family's house into a bustling daycare and therapy center, with every room dedicated to helping children thrive.
By 2003, demand had grown so significantly that Charlene and her family moved into a single bedroom to make space for the more than 100 children coming through her doors each week. The families kept coming because Charlene's approach worked — and because no one else was offering what she was building.
In 2008, Charlene expanded her vision beyond Happy Talkers, founding School of Imagination to focus on academic growth and inclusive kindergarten readiness for all children. After years of navigating temporary locations, she and Mitch partnered with the City of Dublin to design a permanent 12,000-square-foot center, which opened in 2011.
Today the organization spans six clinical disciplines, a diagnostic program, a coordinated care model, and a community platform that raises funds and awareness every year through the Vogt Weekend benefit. The questions families ask haven't changed. Our ability to answer them has grown considerably.
How we got here.
The people who built this.
Happy Talkers and School of Imagination were built over 25 years by two people who made an uncommon bet: that children with developmental challenges deserved an integrated, excellent, accessible answer in their own community.
Charlene is a speech-language pathologist, preschool director, and certified ESDM therapist who launched Happy Talkers from her home in Pleasanton in 2001 with a simple mission: don't give up on any child, and ensure their true potential is unlocked.
Within months, more than 100 children filled her home as word spread about her inclusive programs and results with children with autism and developmental delays. By 2003, she and her family had moved into a single bedroom to make room for the work.
Today, Charlene is an industry pioneer — having created the award-winning School of Imagination and Happy Talkers, the region's only inclusion preschool and clinical practice based on ESDM, recognized by Time magazine as a Top 10 Medical Breakthrough for treating autism.
M.S. Ed, CCC-SLPUpload to Squarespace image block
Mitch met Charlene in college, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in sports medicine and athletic training. He went on to serve as Director of Sports Medicine working alongside renowned NY Jets Team Physician Dr. Nicholas, building the Locust Valley Unified School District sports medicine program while running free injury clinics and multidisciplinary examinations for student-athletes.
He also served as Head Men's Athletic Trainer at Florida Atlantic University, and has been published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine and The Physician and Sports Medicine, and co-authored the revision of the New York State E.M.T. protocol for managing spinal cord injuries in football players.
In 2006, Mitch left his career to bring Charlene's vision to life full-time. He leads finances, operations, infrastructure, and the development work that has allowed the organization to scale from a home-based practice to a 12,000-square-foot integrated clinical center.
B.S. Sports Medicine & Athletic TrainingAn integrated system — not a collection of programs.
Most organizations provide one service well. We've built something different: a coordinated model where clinical disciplines are designed to work together from the start.
Built to coordinate, built to scale.
Beyond the founding team, School of Imagination and Happy Talkers operate through a clinical and operational leadership structure designed for an integrated model of care.
School of Imagination — founded in 2008 and in its permanent Dublin home since 2011 — is the parent organization encompassing the inclusive preschool, community platform, and the annual Vogt Weekend benefit (next: January 22–23, 2027). Together, the two organizations form an integrated early childhood development system that has served the Tri-Valley for 25 years.