Our Team
Michelle Taylor,
Speech Pathologist, Director, B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Michelle has over a decade of experience working in Paediatric Speech Pathology. She has worked in a variety of settings including early intervention and school age clinics, playgroups, preschools, and schools, in Private Practice and NGOs. She has extensive experience and knowledge working with children with developmental disorders, communication, Dyslexia, literacy and speech needs.
Michelle has a keen interest in wholistic assessment and management of children with Learning Difficulties and speech sound disorders. Michelle has completed many workshops as well as run presentations for parents, other professionals and education staff. She is PROMPT trained and holds a level 5 certificate in Teaching Children with Learning Difficulties which she completed while working in a specialist school for children with Dyslexia and other Learning Difficulties in London. Michelle is also certified to run the Sounds Write Synthetic Phonics Program, Talk 4 Writing, Learn To Play Part 1, and Nuffield Dyspraxia Program.
Michelle is a mother of two who understands the needs of families and endeavours to provide family-centred therapy for her clients.
Brooke Fitzgerald,
Speech Pathologist, Director, B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Brooke Fitzgerald (previously Calpis) has over a decade of experience working in Paediatric Speech Pathology, with the majority of this time being within the Sutherland Shire. She is also a mother of three!
Brooke has worked in a variety of settings, including preschools, schools and home based intervention. She has vast experience in a range of therapy approaches to treat speech, language, fluency (stuttering) and reading, spelling and writing skills. She has run many workshops in preschools and schools, providing inservice training to teachers and information for families. Brooke has completed additional training in Talk 4 Writing and Learn to Play Part 1.
Brooke is a passionate and committed therapist who builds strong relationships with her clients, their families and other health professionals. She strives to constantly improve her knowledge and skills through keeping up with the latest research and by reguarly participating in professional courses.
Kristina Vulkanovski,
Speech Pathologist and Service Development Coordinator, B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Kristina is a highly-motivated and energetic Speech Pathologist. She provides a fun, family-centered approach to therapy and tailors her sessions to suit the needs of her clients.
Kristina has worked with young children, and school-aged children (primary and high school) across various settings including schools, preschools, private clinics, home setting and community health centres in Sydney and Darwin. Kristina has worked alongside many health professionals and loves to take a holistic approach to intervention.
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Kristina is committed to ongoing professional development and maintains evidence-based practice in all her work. Kristina is formally trained in Hanen ‘More Than Words’ program and is accredited in the THRASS course for reading and spelling difficulties. Kristina has also completed training in the Lidcombe program, LAMP, Nuffield Dyspraxia Program, Talk 4 Writing, Learn to Play Part 1, Key Word Sign and introductory courses in DIR Floortime. She has a keen interest in supporting clients with alternative, augmentative communication devices and has completed training across many of these devices.
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Lauren Pratt
Speech Pathologist/ OM clinic coordinator, B.Speech Path, MSPA, CPSP
Lauren is a warm and enthusiastic Speech Pathologist who is passionate about supporting the speech, language, fluency and literacy needs of children and adolescents. Lauren has experience working across the public and private sectors. She has worked with children in clinics, schools, preschools and community health.
Lauren has a particular interest in Speech Sound Disorders and Orofacial Myology. She undertook her training in Orofacial Myology in 2024. Lauren has also completed training in the Sounds - Write Program with SPELD.
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Lauren understands that every child is wonderfully unique. She is dedicated to working with families to develop individualised, functional and meaningful goals. Being a parent herself, Lauren understands the importance of having parents/carers involved in all aspects of the Speech Pathology journey and highlighy values a team-based approach to ensure holistic care and maximum gains.
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Lauren is dedicated to providing care that is evidence-based and endeavours to stay up-to-date with best practice through ongoing professional development. Lauren is currently on Maternity leave with her 3rd child.
Emily Carter,
Speech Pathologist, Masters Speech Pathology, MSPA, CPSP
Emily is a lovely member of our Speech Pathology team. She has a gentle, encouraging and friendly manner that allows children to feel comfortable and able to achieve.
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Emily is passionate about helping young children grow and develop their communication skills to achieve their full potential. She enjoys building relationships and helping children to reach their goals while making therapy fun and interactive.
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Emily has a special interest in speech sound disorders and has completed training in PROMPT to support complex speech sound disorders with a multimodal approach.
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Emily has experience working with children in private practice, their childcare, school and home environments. Emily is a PROMPT certified therapist. She works hard and enjoys keeping up with current practice and research to ensure the best possible outcomes for her clients.
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Holly Dalziel
Speech Pathologist, B.Speech Path, MSPA, CPSP
Holly is a warm, calm and caring Speech Pathologist. She ensures that children and their families feel engaged and fully supported in meeting their goals and achieving their best.
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Holly has a wealth of experience working with children in various settings including preschools, schools and private clinics. She has a passion for working with children with a range of abilities, early language, literacy and speech sound difficulties.
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Holly is passionate about providing holistic care to her clients and has a special interest in Orofacial Myology. Holly completed additional training in Orofacial Myology in 2024. She enjoys working with clients and their families to improve orofacial development and function.
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Holly continues to update her professional knowledge and skills and ensures that her therapy is evidence based. She is trained in Key Word Sign, PECS, Minilit, Karen Stagnitti - Learn to Play and has attended workshops in infant feeding and sleep disorders & breathing and Myofunctional therapy.
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Megan Sperring,
Speech Pathologist, B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Megan is a lovely, calm and caring member of our Speech Pathology team. She is passionate about helping children to be able to communicate and be able to participate in all areas of life. It is very important to her that she builds good relationships with the children and their families in order to see the best outcomes in therapy.
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Megan has experience working with children both face to face and online in a range of settings, including private practice, Community Health and Schools. She has a passion for speech sound disorders, language delays and stuttering. She is dedicated to working with families to ensure that the children are able to reach their full potential.
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Megan enjoys ongoing learning and keeping up to date with evidence based practice to ensure her therapy has the best possible outcomes for her clients.
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Kate Nicholls,
Speech Pathologist, B.App.Sc (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Kate She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role. She has been working as a Speech & Language Pathologist for over 13 years with extensive experience working with clients with a range of speech, language and communication difficulties. Kate completed a Bachelor’s of Speech Pathology from the University of Sydney after the completion of a Bachelor’s of Science (Linguistics and Psychology) and a Bachelor’s of Health Science (Hearing & Speech).
She has previously worked for the Centre of Autism and Related Disorders, Australia, within community healthcare settings, schools and the private practice sector in senior clinical roles and has experience in management and clinical education.
Kate takes a family-centred, hands-on approach with all of her clients. Kate is a mother of two school aged children and understands the importance of working closely with parents and teachers to ensure the best therapy outcomes are achieved for every client.
Kate is passionate about creating fun and engaging therapy sessions and supporting clients in achieving independence and confidence in their communication skills. Kate has received additional training in The Sounds Write program, Childhood Apraxia of Speech ReST Treatment, The Lidcombe Program, Feeding and BLADES.
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Lauren Hutton
Speech Pathologist, Masters Speech Pathology (Speech Pathology), MSPAA, CPSP
Lauren is an enthusiastic and compassionate speech pathologist dedicated to helping children unlock their full potential. She has experience working with children of all ages, from toddlers to high school students in the clinic, online, and in schools.
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She is passionate about making therapy fun and creating an environment in which children can build confidence in their abilities. Lauren has worked with children with speech and language needs associated with speech sound and articulation disorders, Developmental Language Disorder, stuttering, voice concerns, hearing impairment and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Lauren consistently expands her knowledge through her continued professional development to ensure she is using the most current up to date evidence based therapy.
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Elizabeth Tax,
Speech Pathologist, B.Speech Pathology, MSPAA, CPSP
Liz is a calm and caring member of our Speech Pathology team. She is passionate about supporting children to reach their potential while building strong relationships with the children and their families.
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Elizabeth has experience working with children both face to face and online in a range of settings. She has a passion for speech sound disorders, language delays and developmental delays.
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Liz is dedicated to ongoing learning and keeping up to date with evidence based practice to ensure her therapy has the best possible outcomes for her clients.
Ciara Day
Speech Pathologist, B. Speech Pathology, MSPAA, CPSP
Ciara is a warm and enthusiastic Speech Pathologist at Leap. Ciara worked as a Therapy Assistant while she studied and gained extensive experience before starting as a qualified therapist.
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Ciara has experience working with children in the clinic, in schools and early childhood centres, with assessments, individual therapy and group therapy. Ciara is highly motivated therapist who works hard to ensure that her clients are achieving success in their goals and that each client enjoys their therapy sessions.
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Steven Jarmusz
Speech Pathologist, B.App.Sc (Speech Path), MSPAA
Steven is a caring and vibrant Speech Pathologist. Steven started with Leap as a therapy assistant and gained extensive experience before starting as a qualified therapist.
Steven is committed to creating a safe and comfortable environment for children to reach their full potential. Steven enjoys building relationships with clients and ensures that sessions are enjoyable and individualised for each child to best help them succeed and achieve in working towards their goals.
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Steven enjoys working with children in individual assessments and sessions as well as always bringing the fun and enjoyment to our group sessions!
Sophie Jarvis
Therapy Assistant
Sophie is a kind and passionate therapy assistant who strives to create a comfortable environment for her clients to learn and improve. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Speech Pathology at the Australian Catholic University and sees clients in a number of school settings. Sophie ensures that all children she works with are working towards achieving the goals set by their therapist, whilst providing an enjoyable and nurturing framework so that they are actively engaged in the session.
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Ashlee Swindon
Practice Manager
Ashlee is a friendly, enthusiastic and highly organised Senior member of our administration team. Her bright welcome makes clients feel like they are walking into a friend's house when they come in for their therapy session.
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Ashlee always works hard to ensure everything is running smoothly to support both client's families and the team.
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Ellen Thompson
Clinical Administration
Elle is a warm, calm and friendly member of our team. She ensures that our clients always feel welcomed and supported when coming into the clinic. She enjoys seeing smiles on the clients faces as they come out of sessions and to hear about the exciting things the kids have to tell her!
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Elle brings with her a wealth of knowledge in working in client support in allied health clinics and this is highly valued amongst the team as well as client's families.
Karene Bedson
Clinical Administration
Karene is helpful and friendly and enjoys working in a team that supports families. Karene's calm and happy nature is a wonderful welcome into the clinic for all of our clients.
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Karene comes from and Early Childhood teaching background with a wealth of knowledge about development for young kids. She is extremely organised which comes from her experience of having run a small business.