London Speech Therapy | Speech Therapist in London, Cardiff & Essex, UK

Chris Wade

Chris is the company founder and CEO. He obtained a BA (hons) Linguistics from Lancaster University before qualifying as a Speech and Language Therapist with a BSc (hons) in Clinical Language Sciences from Leeds Metropolitan University. Chris is a Consultant Speech & Language Therapist and registered member of both the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the Health Care Professionals Council. Since qualifying Chris has held six positions in the NHS in 4 central London boroughs and 2 borough outside of London. From December 2010 to March 2012 Christopher worked for the NHS in North London and was the lead Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist for children with complex needs in mainstream schools and a respected member of the CAMHS neurodevelopment diagnostic team for children and adolescents with suspected Autism Spectrum Disorders. In addition to this he was the lead therapist in a beacon secondary special school for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Chris' most recent NHS post was in South Wales in early 2015 where he specialised in the assessment and intervention of children aged 18 months upwards in deprived communities. Internationally, Chris has extensive experience working directly with families in Dubai; Abu Dhabi; Goa; Moscow; Muscat and Cairo. Chris has extensive experience and specialises in the diagnosis and intervention (i.e. therapy and training others) of children & adolescents aged 3-19 with Autism/Asperger Syndrome, Down's Syndrome and Speech&Language delay/disorders. He has post-grad training in PECS, Intensive Interaction, Makaton, TEACCH, Post-Basic Dysphagia (ALD and Paediatric), ADOS and ADI-R. Chris is also an elected Director (Chair) at the Association of Speech & Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP) and member of the the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. Chris has a new-found love for mountain biking and, when he isn't at the park playing with his 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son, you'll find him throwing himself off the Welsh mountains!

Emily Smith

Emily is a Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist currently providing SLT to children in a nursery language unit, and to private clients predominantly with speech and language disorders across London. Emily also provides therapy to one of our international clients, regularly travelling to Singapore to work intensively with the client and her family. Emily is trained in PROMPT, the Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme, Attention Autism, PECS, SCERTS and Palin PCI. Emily is a member of our Senior Leadership Team, supervising members of the team and working on service development. In her spare time Emily enjoys cooking for friends, singing in a choir and running.

Mairead Donnelly

Mairead is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with a wealth of experience working with children with a wide range of speech and language difficulties and specialises in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Mairead is currently working in a specialist ASD Resource Base Nursery setting and in a specialist Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) school setting, as well as with a number of our private clients across London. Mairead has postgraduate training in Attention Autism, PECS, Makaton, Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS), ADOS, Core Vocabulary and PCI Stammering Intervention. Mairead is a member of our Senior Leadership Team.

Helen Burgess

Helen is a speech and language therapist currently working with young people with social communication difficulties. She has a postgraduate certificate in autism and enjoys working with teenagers. BBefore joining London Speech Therapy Helen worked in an early intervention centre and in international mainstream and SEN schools. Helen is a member of our Senior Leadership Team. In her spare time she enjoys reading and baking.

Khadija Dadabhoy

Khadija is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who graduated from University College London. Khadija works full time in a 5 form entry mainstream primary school in East London. Also experienced in working in early years clinic, Khadija particularly enjoys providing early intervention and working collaboratively with parents and educational staff to offer a holistic and consistent approach to assessment and therapy. Khadija is a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with her daughter and husband, socialising, cooking and fundraising for charities.

Meave Harrington

Maeve is a Specialist Speech and Language Therpist who graduated from the National University of Ireland Galway in 2012. She has completed formal training in the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), Sensory Integration, Adult-Child Interaction Therapy and The Derbyshire Language Scheme. She enjoys working with children with ASD, Intellectual disabilities, Specific Language Inpairment and Speech sound disorders.

Caroline McCallum

Caroline McCallum is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working freelance for London Speech Therapy. She has with extensive experience working across early years, mainstream primary, secondary and special school schools. Caroline specialises in working with children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has post grad training in PECS, TEACCH, Makaton, Intensive Interaction, PPCI (stammering), Solution Focus Brief Therapy, SCERTS and the ComFor Assessment of Symbolic Understanding. Caroline is a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Outside of work Caroline enjoys jogging, cycling, cooking, and live music.

Kalifa Coleman Best

Kalifa graduated from City University London as a Speech and Language Therapist and has experience within a variety of settings including mainstream schools, clinics and a hearing impairment unit. She is currently based in London working with a paediatric caseload. She has a special interest in Deafness, Development Language Disorder (DLD, formerly Specific Language Impairment), Auditory processing and is a Qualified British Sign Language practitioner. In her spare time she enjoys Yoga and baking.

Marie Creswell

Marie trained as a Speech and Language Therapist at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh after a Joint Honours Degree in English and French at Queen's University, Belfast. She is currently working with a mixed paediatric caseload in mainstream primary and secondary schools across London. She also works in a specialist college for adults with autism. Marie is a registered Elklan tutor and has additional training in Attention Autism and Makaton.

Linh Le

Linh is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Through her university clinical placements, Linh has gained experience in working with adults as well as children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Learning Disabilities and Neurological Disorders. Linh joined the team in October 2014 and is currently working with a mixed paediatric caseload in Cardiff.

Sarah Murphy

Sarah Murphy graduated from Cardiff University in 2009 with a BA honours in Language and Communication. It was during this time that she developed a keen interest in communication disorders and went on to obtain a degree in Speech and Language Therapy at Cardiff Metropolitan University, graduating in 2014. Sarah gained extensive experience of working with a wide and varied caseload, including both paediatric and adult clients, during clinical placements. Sarah is currently based in Cardiff working with paediatric caseload.

Philip Robinson

Philip is our dysfluency (stammering/stuttering) specialist who works from our Harley Street and Stratford clinics, as well as in schools throughout London and with international clients. Philip qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist from Sheffield University (MMedSci Clinical Communication Studies) after gaining a degree in Linguistics (BSc Hons). Growing up with a stammer brought Philip into Speech Therapy, and he is passionate about working with others who stammer to achieve more fluent speech and to manage their stammer more effectively. He uses a mix of fluency shaping and stammering-modification techniques, as well as more counselling-focussed approaches, to achieve tangible results with his clients. You can see Philip delivering a speech to University College London about his stammer at: https://youtu.be/W06dl9Ylno8.

Katie Hughes

Katie graduated as a Speech and Language therapist from Queen Margaret University and has experience working with a mixed paediatric caseload. Katie has a background in Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and a keen interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ABA) and Specific Language Impairment (SLI).

Sophie Rodd

Sophie qualified from University College London in 2003 and has experience with both adults and children in a range of settings. For the past 6 years Sophie has specialised with a paediatric caseload and her particular areas of interest include social communication difficulties (including autism), language delay and disorders, and speech sound difficulties. Outside of work Sophie enjoys netball and spending time with her family.

Besterah Kutlu

Besterah is a Speech and Language Therapist who graduated from City University London, following an undergraduate degree in Psychology. She worked at the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (Institute of Education) before completing her undergraduate degree. Through her clinical placements, she has gained experience in working with children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), delayed speech and language, Learning Disabilities and children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Besterah is bilingual, speaking English and Turkish.

Emma-Joy Andrews

Emma-Joy Andrews is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working freelance for London Speech Therapy. She qualified in New Zealand in 2006 and has since worked in a number of different paediatric settings. She currently works in an independent special secondary school for young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties. She has postgraduate training in PECS, Makaton, and the Lidcombe Programme, and is a certified leader of The Hanen Centre’s ‘It Takes Two to Talk’ and ‘More Than Words’ programmes. Outside of work, she enjoys travelling, baking, and trying to keep up with her toddler.

Emer Hurley

Emer graduated from National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2014. Emer specialises in Autism Spectrum Disorder and has experience working across a number of mainstream and specialist settings across London. Emer values opportunities to work closely with families, educational staff and other professionals in school, clinic and home settings. Emer has additional training in SCERTS (Social Communication Emotional Regulation Transactional Support), Intensive Interaction, Attention Autism, Play Therapy, Makaton, Lee Silverman Voice Treatment Programme (LSVT), Social Thinking, Bridges in Social Understanding, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECs) and Derbyshire Language Scheme (DLS). Outside of work Emer enjoys swimming, cycling, travelling and spending time with friends and family.

Alice Monaghan

Alice completed her Batchelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy at National University of Ireland, Galway in 2014. Her time at NUIG involved a broad range of Clinical Placements in community, disability and acute settings. Since then, her love for working with children has steered her to focus on Paediatrics. After graduating, she volunteered in Children's Language Development Preschool, Oranmore. She was subsequently employed there where she worked with preschool-aged children with various speech, language and communication needs ranging from mild to severe. She has also worked in Springfield Primary Care Clinic, Mullingar. Here, she worked with both preschool and school-aged children with delayed and disordered speech and language abilities. Alice's hobbies and interests include nature walks, animals and music. She plays the fiddle and also sings. She has strong interpersonal skills and enjoys socialising with friends and family. She has a positive outlook on life and actively applies this to her work.

Chloe Lee

Chloe graduated from City University London as a Speech and Language Therapist, following an undergraduate degree in Drama. She has just returned to the UK, having worked in Barbados for the last year with a highly varied paediatric caseload within both clinical and educational settings. During her clinical placements and ongoing voluntary work Chloe has gained extensive experience working with both children and adults in different fields, including community clinics, mainstream schools, a university research centre and mental health secure unit. Chloe has an interest in social and communication difficulties including autism, mental illness and neurological disorders. Outside of work she has a passion for travel and loves to watch rugby and live music.

Misha Amin

Misha trained as a Speech and Language Therapist at the University of Sheffield. She is currently working with a mixed paediatric case load in primary and secondary schools in London. In her spare time she enjoys skiing, travelling and cooking.

Sarah Mullaney

Sarah graduated from the National University of Ireland Galway as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2016. She has experience working with a mixed paediatric caseload across a range of settings in Ireland. She has a keen interest in Early Years and Autism Spectrum Disorder, and also enjoys working with children with Specific Language Impairment and Speech Sound Disorders. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys socialising with friends, travelling, and playing Gaelic football.

Wai Seng

Wai graduated in 2015 as a Speech and Language Therapist, with a Bachelor of Health Science (Hons) Speech Pathology, in the Apex University of Science Malaysia. He has experience working with a variety of caseloads including paediatrics (both in mainstream schools and special educational needs schools), as well as working with adolescent and adult cases; including ASD, Stammering, Speech Sound Disorders, Down Syndrome, Learning Difficulties and Hearing Impairment. He is trained in ‘More Than Words’ The Hanen Program, Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy For Stammering Children and Attention Autism. Wai is a multi-lingual, speaking English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Bahasa Malaysia and in able to provide assessments and therapy in these languages if preferred by parents. In his spare time Wai enjoys travelling, listening to music and cooking.

Ayesha Zeb

Ayesha qualified from City University London and has experience with both children and adolescents in a range of settings including mainstream primary and secondary schools and specialist resource bases. She has also worked independently with schools and families in their homes. Ayesha’s specific areas of specialism include literacy, speech sound difficulties hearing impairment and social communication difficulties in young people with Autism. Ayesha is a registered Elklan tutor and has experience in the training of others. Ayesha is multilingual and speaks Urdu and Punjabi and has an interested in the link between Speech and language and EAL (English as an Additional Language). Outside of work Ayesha enjoys socialising, travelling and cooking.

Michelle Bedford

Having completed a degree in English literature at Cardiff University, Michelle decided to combine her passions for language and working with children by training to become a Speech and Language Therapist. Between and during her degrees, Michelle worked for the council as a play worker in both mainstream and special needs schemes. She is very compassionate and, having been both a professional and unpaid carer, really appreciates the impact that communication difficulties and additional needs can have on the whole family. As well as 1 to 1 work, Michelle believes in working with families and school staff to create the best possible environment for each child to reach their full potential. Cardiff has become home for Michelle, where she lives with her husband and cocker spaniel, enjoying walks, gardening and catching up with friends. Michelle currently works across Cardiff and neighbouring counties.

Siobhan Tumelty

Siobhan is Chris' personal assistant, and works remotely from her home in Cirencester. She has several years experience in business administration working in both the public and private sector. She has a degree in English and Creative Writing from the University of Wales (2011) and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia (2012), and also works as a freelance copywriter in her spare time. She enjoys working for London Speech Therapy, and says the best part of her job is getting to talk to and help such a wide range of people.

Nikki Samuel

Nikki is a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who graduated from the University of Sheffield. Nikki works in two mainstream primary schools in Essex supporting children with a wide range of speech, language and communication needs as well as supporting and providing training for parents and teaching staff. Nikki has a keen interest working in early years and supporting children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Nikki is trained in Makaton, The Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme, Word Aware, Attention Autism, PECS, Lidcombe and Palin PCI. Nikki is a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Outside of work Nikki enjoys seeing friends and family, travelling and being in the great outdoors.

Jeffrey Wager

Jeffrey graduated with a degree in BSc (Hons) Speech and Language Therapy from Leeds Beckett University (where Chris went!). Prior to this he obtained a BA (Hons) in English and History. He possesses experience of working with a variety of different paediatric caseloads including both mainstream and special educational needs children. Jeffrey’s main clinical interest is in Specific Language Impairment and he has full membership to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Health and Professions Council. Outside of work Jeffrey enjoys going to the gym, running, travelling as well as reading.

Shima Yazdi

Shima qualified from City University London. She has experience working with a variety of client groups overtime; ranging from language delay/disorders, paediatric dysphagia, ASC and stroke patients with communication needs. She also is a literacy specialist and has additional training in linking language and literacy in therapy. Shima specialises in working with adolescents who have Autism and social/ pragmatic communication difficulties. She finds it extremely rewarding when her clients meet therapy targets and make functional progress in everyday life. Shima has a high level of experience training other professionals in Speech and Language Therapy such as: teaching professionals and other healthcare professionals. She is multilingual and fluent in: English and Persian, as well as a working knowledge of Spanish. Shima’s hobbies include: travelling, keeping fit and socialising.

Laura Mellor

Laura is a Speech and Language Therapist who graduated from the University of Reading. She currently works in two mainstream primary schools, based respectively in East and South East London. Laura has previously worked with London Speech Therapy on an intensive individual six-week programme, as a Speech and Language Therapy Assistant. She has a background in Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) and a keen interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Speech Sound Disorders (SSD) paediatric feeding and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). Laura particularly enjoys working with families; previously working for a charity that supports the families of children with ASD. In her spare time, Laura volunteers as an Association Visitor for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, supporting members of the community diagnosed with or effected by this disease. She also enjoys socialising with friends, being active, going to football matches and music concerts and spending time with her family.

Lauren Allwood

Lauren is our Bookkeeper and works from her home in Cardiff on a part time basis. Lauren has worked for us for over two years now and previous to this has worked in various administration roles. She holds a degree in Journalism from the University of Glamorgan.