v doesn’t believe professionals can specialize in people’s lived experiences, so they do not call themself an autism specialist. as an Autistic person themself, they know that every Autistic experience is unique in itself and the community of Autistic people are not a monolith.

however, v does specialize in communication wellness care for Autistic individuals, especially surrounding alexithymia care and social emotional learning and wellness.

v also specializes in early bilingual/ multilingual development for any language through parent/caregiver training (experience in Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Cantonese Chinese, Russian) or direct care in Mandarin Chinese for early age development (0-5), whether there is suspected disability or not. v has supported parents in planning polyglot development for their young children throughout the nation.

v also has a special interest in speech sound production including working with children who have speech delay, phonological delay, phonological processing disability (including dyslexia), oral apraxia, dysarthria, speech apraxia, and/or childhood apraxia of speech.

v also has many years of experience being trauma-informed and working with clients who present with selective mutism and other communication anxieties.

v does not specialize in assessment nor trialing of high-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices but works with other professionals to get systems set up first before supporting ongoing services for AAC communicators.

yes. V is multiply neurodivergent, primarily experiencing autism and ADHD. V is happy pointing out neurodivergent traits of themself to clients and their families in order to educate and affirm traits as they are as well as model communicating needs (self-advocacy) and clarification to prevent communication breakdown.

v works with families who do not feel comfortable using ABA or promote masking due to the increasing amounts of literature and first-hand accounts from Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent individuals and families that are coming out to report the harms that have come from ABA and masking therapies, including exacerbating sensori-emotional dysregulation as worsening into more severe anxiety, depression, self-injury, and/or suicidality (bradley et al., 2021; cassidy et al., 2018; cumming et al., 2020; kupferstein, 2019; mcgill & robinson, 2020; pearson & rose, 2021; raymaker et al., 2020; sandoval-norton & schkedy, 2019; wilkenfield & mccarthy, 2020).

v does not condone pseudo “speech therapy” being provided by non- speech-language providers who do not have years of learning experience for natural language acquisition, speech sound production, and instead view communication as a controllable, rote behavior that can be shallowly memorized and performed. thus, v does not allow for ABA providers (BCBAs or RBTs) to come observe sessions.

instead, v works with natural communication partners (e.g. family members, caregivers, educators, peers, etc.) to naturally and holistically address the child’s communication development and needs within their family environment as well as to train those communication partners to also understand the individual’s communication. v also encourages cross-collaboration with mental health providers and occupational therapists.

absolutely. v considers it a “red flag” when providers do not provide transparency of how speech therapy is conducted. families are always welcome to watch so long as the child is comfortable. especially for younger children and children who are anxious with new individuals, it is critical for families to support them as they build rapport with v.

in some instances, especially as children get older, they will act differently when parents are watching or nearby or will request not to be watched. the feeling of being surveilled, especially when working on challenging and/or emotionally sensitive situations, can build a wall between the client and the therapist. v strongly encourages the autonomy of the children in choosing if/when parents/caregivers attend and sessions can be split into 1:1 time and family time to accommodate needs. 

absolutely. v is available for initial and triennial assessments, independent educational evaluations (IEEs), and goal development for children in educational programming. v has 7 years of working for public education and is familiar with educational access, educational law, and disability rights.

v’s goals are for whole-team collaboration for the wellness of the child. v supports aiming for mediation when the goals are misaligned.

v can be hired to conduct IEEs, consult with educational advocates, and be a topic expert witness, but does not participate in lengthy legal fights against the school districts that create distrust between the private sector and the public education sector.

v is not an in-network provider for any insurances and does not bill. however, v can provide superbills to be submitted directly to insurance by the client. it is the responsibility of the client to be informed on their own insurance policies for speech therapy evaluation or therapy reimbursement.

unfortunately, insurances charge clinicians to pay money in order to be within their network and uphold red-tape surrounding how evaluations and therapy should be conducted. a lot of these policies are not child-centered nor disability-affirming, and are sometimes unjust. additionally, insurance billing takes a lot of time and v is a solo practitioner focused on doing what they do best-- the actual work.

you’ll find that most practices that do accept insurance are larger-scale clinics with multiple employees that often are a “merry-go-round” of new graduates who get trained, are underpaid, and then leave. this is unsustainable for long-term continued care of clients and families, and focuses on profit. this is not how The Speechologist operates.

v believes that financial access should not be a barrier to receiving communication wellness supports. as such, v balances the caseload to offer a number of sliding scale spots and Golden Gate Regional Center spots in order to support the underserved populations of the San Francisco Bay Area as well as provides consultations for one-time or less-often support.

some families may find that hiring v to consult with a school-based team or do an IEE or IEP review may be more economically beneficial than ongoing services with v. or, some may seek out less-often services to balance the financial demand. please email v to discuss your options.

if you live near San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, or California State University, East Bay, you may also contact their speech-language pathology programs to see if they are accepting clients. their services are usually no- or low-cost.

v is licensed in the state of california, so they can only provide direct clinical work such as evaluation and/or clinical speech therapy services in california. this can be in-person or through telehealth.

for communication wellness coaching, consultation on cases, or communication partner training, they can support anyone globally and have worked with clients in taiwan, china, singapore, india, and israel.

it is the client’s responsibility to drive to the state of California in order to receive clinical assessment or speech therapy clinical services. if you are located at the border, say, in lake tahoe on the nevada side, you must drive to the california side to engage in teletherapy services.

for non-clinical services, v may work with anyone without geographical barriers.

no. It is the client’s responsibility to inform v of location changes when necessary. v is only licensed in the state of California due to cost prohibition of maintaining multi-state licensure. the verbiage of direct “clinical services” varies from consultation or coaching for insurance reimbursement purposes.

v understands there is a lack of service providers globally, especially in the mandarin-chinese language and/or who are truly autism and neurodiversity affirming. consultation, coaching, and review are great ways to meet this gap without geographical barriers.