DEE WARDROP - Key Persons
Amanda has a Masters in Speech Pathology from Charles Sturt University and a Bachelor of Arts from Canterbury University. Before transitioning to speech pathology she taught the English language to adults and children and worked as a therapy assistant helping adults achieve voice and language goals. Amanda first became interested in speech pathology while teaching English to children in Vietnam.
Amanda is an enthusiastic and calm speech pathologist who believes in working with families to find goals that best serve the individual. She tailors sessions to best meet the client's interests to make therapy fun, engaging and effective.
Amanda is available Monday - Thursday and works at our Northcote and Coburg clinics.
Articles by Amanda: Amanda joins our Speech team! - Dee Wardrop
Annaliese has been working at DWSP for more than 10 years and currently is working exclusively via telehealth. She enjoys working with children of all ages, from toddlers, right through to older teenagers. She has a gift for developing rapport with children and young people, and a real passion for helping people communicate. She works in a variety of areas including speech and language development, pragmatics and social skills, fluency, literacy and more. She believes in working closely with families to support and develop their child's communication skills.
Annaliese brings her skills and experience from her work in the Community Health setting with preschool children providing assessment and treatment for a wide range of communication difficulties. She also has a significant background working in primary school settings and with older students and teenagers. She is experienced in assessing and treating school-aged children with language and literacy difficulties, and in liaising with other professionals and providing treatment plans alongside Occupational Therapists and Educational Psychologists.
Brendan graduated with a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours) from the University of Queensland. Prior to joining DWSP, he was working in a private practice in Redcliffe, Queensland where he was supporting individuals across the lifespan. In this role, Brendan was helping individuals achieve their Speech, Language, Social Pragmatics, Higher-Level Language, Executive skills, Literacy, and Fluency goals with an emphasis on functional use within the community.
Brendan has always wanted to work in Allied Health, with a prior degree in Nutrition and Dietetics helping him to realise his true love for Speech Pathology. Brendan will always find a way to incorporate fun into his sessions - whether that be through sensorimotor play, games, or incorporating a child's special interests into sessions - there are sure to be many laughs.
He has a particular interest in Early Social-Emotional Development, Early Language Development, Social Pragmatics, Socially Resistant Communicators, Speech, and Orofacial Myology.
He has training in DIR Floortime, Derbyshire Language, Social Communication, Sensory Regulation, PROMPT, Stage 1 Oro-Facial Myology, Feeding Skills and Picky Eating.
Brendan is based between the Northcote and Coburg sites, as well as within schools.
Carla studied at the University of Melbourne, completing a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Linguistics in 2012 and then a Master of Speech Pathology in 2016. Her Honours thesis explored the language of childbirth, a personal interest of hers, and her Masters research was conducted at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in the faculty of Genetics of Speech and Language. After completing her tertiary studies, she worked at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne within the Complex Care team and tutored within the Health Sciences faculty at Monash University.
In 2019, Carla spontaneously relocated to Tasmania where she began working all across the state as a Speech and Language Pathologist with the Department of Education, as well beginning her journey into private practice in 2020. Her work in Tasmania provided her with a rich array of experience in terms of clientele, including not only children and adults with speech and language disorders but also autism spectrum disorder, complex trauma histories, cognitive and learning disabilities and various other genetic, developmental and mental health conditions. She relocated again, this time to Sydney, in early 2021 and continued her work in paediatric private practice there before returning home to Melbourne to begin working at DWSP in January 2024.
Carla has a deep personal interest in language- she is fluent in Italian and has studied Japanese and Auslan as well. She has both a love for and a long personal history of working with children and adolescents, and always prioritises building strong, productive relationships with her clients and families. She is committed to ongoing learning and professional skill development and endeavours to provide evidence-based therapy in the most enjoyable and meaningful ways possible.
Carla is based at our Northcote and Coburg clinics.
Carolyn joined our team in 2018 after completing her Masters of Speech Pathology and a Bachelor of BioMedicine.
Carolyn leads our School Readiness Program, supporting groups for students starting prep, and working with preschool and early school years clients on all skills relating to school readiness.
Carolyn also develops and provides assessment and education programs for Kindergartens and Childcare centres under the Victorian State Government School Readiness Kindergarten Funding model. In this role she works with centres to identify their needs and develops year long training and support programs to upskill staff and support students in 3 and 4 year old kindergarten in their journey towards school. Carolyn is passionate about this role and working with educators to identify areas of growth and build the capacity of each centre she works with.
She is bright, bubbly and really passionate about delivering the highest quality service to her clients. She believes that play based therapy is the best way to develop children's skills and enjoys playing and engaging with children to make therapy a positive and fun experience for everyone involved.
Carolyn's interest in Speech Pathology stemmed from her passion for the sciences- especially human anatomy and physiology, and the interpersonal side of healthcare that Speech Pathology provides. A service trip to Cambodia and working with orphanages and churches there further developed her interest in working with children from young ages. She loves using her creativity to fully engage children in therapy and strives to make therapy an enjoyable experience for clients and families.
Job Titles:
- Senior Speech Pathologist
Christina graduated with a Master of Speech Pathology at Macquarie University in 2009. Prior to joining DWSP in 2014, Christina began her speech pathology career in a special developmental school, working alongside other allied health professionals in a multidisciplinary team.
Christina enjoys working with children across all ages; in the areas of speech, language, Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC), literacy and feeding. Christina has completed additional professional training and certification, including Hanen, Sounds Write, AEIOU approach to feeding, SOS approach to feeding.
Job Titles:
- Pathologist
- Speech Pathologist
Claire is an experienced speech pathologist with an extensive background over 15 years in disability services, early intervention and school based service sector.
Claire is a Mum of 2, who (like so many of our team) enjoys the juggle of parenting and home-life with the exciting challenge and energy of working with families in a professional capacity.
Claire enjoys offering services to a wide range of clients in our team, from articulation and speech difficulties through to complex communication needs and social skills for children, adults and adolescents.
She loves the challenge of meeting new families and working out which therapy approach will best suit the client and the family dynamic. Claire's clients say they love her sense of humour and the fun she brings to the clinic room in every session. Claire works at our Thornbury, Coburg and Footscray clinic, as well as providing some school based services.
Eleanor is a Masters qualified Speech Pathologist with a background working in both public and private health, including school-based interventions. Eleanor has worked with children and young people from diverse backgrounds in Melbourne and London to help them achieve their communication goals. She has also provided training for education professionals on supporting children with speech, language and communication needs.
Eleanor has a passion for working holistically with families to ensure their speech pathology sessions have a functional impact outside the clinic. She enjoys coordinating with other therapists, including Occupational Therapists and Psychologists, to ensure that the children in her care receive a comprehensive approach to their therapy. Her special interests include; working with children with language disorder, autism spectrum disorder and social communication difficulties. Eleanor enjoys incorporating play, music and the interests of her clients in her therapy sessions.
She currently works at both the Coburg and Northcote clinics.
Ellen graduated from The University of Queensland with Honours in Speech Pathology. She has a background in private practice in Mackay, Queensland, as well as being the on-call Speech Pathologist for Mackay Private Hospital. She has worked with children who have varied needs including those on the Autism Spectrum, with Cerebral Palsy and Congenital Muscular Dystrophy.
Ellen has always had an interest in communication and language. She studied Journalism and Japanese before channelling her skills into Speech Pathology. She also developed a particular interest in working with children as an English teacher while living in Japan.
She enjoys learning about each individual person she works with, so she can deliver therapy that is best suited to them. She also values the importance of play in children's learning and strives to create a fun, positive, engaging therapy environment for her clients and their families.
She has a particular interest in Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC), and feeding therapy, having completed training in both areas. She currently works at our Northcote and Coburg clinics.
Eloise has a Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology from Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia. She moved to Melbourne in 2023 to join the DWSP team.
During her time in Western Australia, Eloise worked in schools and private practice to support children and their families to reach their communication goals, as well as in hospitals helping adults rehabilitate their speech and swallow.
Eloise prioritises having fun in sessions, as well as, building rapport and relationships with children and their families to help achieve their goals. Eloise enjoys working in all areas of speech pathology but has a particular love for working with children with literacy difficulties, speech sound difficulties and early language.
Eloise works with clients in our Northcote, Footscray, and Eltham clinics.
Emily joined the DWSP team in 2021 as a graduate occupational therapist and holds a Master of Occupational Therapy.
Emily enjoys working closely with each client and their family in an engaging and caring environment. Her sessions focus on pairing clients' interests and strengths with evidence-based practice. To assist clients to work towards their goals, Emily looks for strategies that are fun, meaningful and easy to replicate in the home, at school or out and about in the community.
Emily has worked with people of a range of abilities, ages and backgrounds in Australia and overseas. She brings experience in child and family welfare advocacy and research, as well as creative arts social impact projects. Emily has qualifications in Arts, Law and Public Relations. She retrained in Occupational Therapy to work directly with children and young people and the important people in their lives.
Emily works from the Northcote, Coburg and Footscray clinics.
Job Titles:
- Senior Speech Pathologist
We welcomed Emily to DWSP in 2021 as a Senior Speech Pathology Therapist. Emily has had over 10 years of experience in special education schools, early intervention, clinical settings, and home settings. Emily is a respectful, patient, and supportive clinician who uses evidence-based tools to help her clients achieve the best possible outcomes.
Emily has a long history of working with children with special needs and conditions like ASD, Developmental Delay, Intellectual Disability and Cerebral Palsy. Emily is passionate about Early Intervention and values the importance of working in collaboration with clients and their carers.
Emily is a certified provider of the Hanen "More Than Words" program and has undertaken both PECS and PODD training. She has extensive experience in Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) and can support children of all ages in their access to communication and sourcing the best AAC program for their needs. Emily is knowledgeable in the process of applying for AAC devices and support through the NDIS,
Emily runs her therapy sessions at the Northcote and Eltham clinics.
Emily graduated from La Trobe University with a masters degree in Speech Pathology.
Emily has previously worked as a mobile clinician with individuals across the lifespan, however found particular interest in working with the paediatric population. Emily has experience in the areas of fluency, language, AAC, speech sounds and literacy.
Emily has completed professional development in the areas of early language, autism, AAC and fluency.
Emily is an enthusiastic clinician who believes in creating a fun and empowering environment for both child and parent to develop their skills and work toward therapy goals.
Emily will be based at schools, Northcote, Eltham and Coburg clinics.
Articles by Emily: A bus ride leads Emily to DWSP! - Dee Wardrop
Erin has a Bachelor of Speech and Language Pathology from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She moved to Melbourne in 2023 to join the DWSP team. During her time in New Zealand Erin worked in schools and early childhood centres supporting children and their families to achieve their communication goals.
Erin is a positive and approachable speech pathologist, with a strong focus on building relationships with children and their families to help achieve their goals. She is interested in all areas of speech pathology but has a particular love for working with children with speech sound difficulties.
Erin works with young people in our Northcote, Footscray, and Eltham clinics.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Clinical Director
- Assistant Clinical Director - Speech Pathology
Esther currently holds the position of Assistant Clinical Director - Speech Pathology. She has worked in the sector for over 20 years and is a Senior Therapist at DWSP. Esther has extensive experience in disability, early intervention and educational settings.
Esther is committed to using her therapy to improve communication skills and quality of life for her clients. She has had a wide range of experience working with children and adults who require augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) systems, including LAMP, Tobii Dynavox devices, eye gaze access, PODD, low-tech communication aids, Key Word Sign, ipad apps etc. She is experienced in supporting adults and children with complex communication needs and is a member of AGOSCI.
Esther employs music as a part of her therapy sessions. She is skilled and experienced in teaching Key Word Signs, language and social skills through the use of music. Esther is enthusiastic about music in her therapy and she feels that it contributes greatly to her clients' progress.
Her therapy sessions support children with pre-verbal skill development, early social interaction skills and early speech and language development. She is committed to the principles of neurodiverse affirming practice.
Aside from her clinical work, Esther leads the SP leadership team to coordinate continuous service improvement and learning for all our speech pathologists. She also trains and mentors staff. She is particularly skilled at helping people think outside of the box.
Prior to DWSP Esther held the position of Senior Speech Pathologist at ComTEC (Yooralla). There she supported individuals and families throughout Victoria with complex communication needs.
Gareth graduated with a degree in Speech Pathology from James Cook University (JCU) in 2013. Since then, he has worked with Queensland Health as a speech pathologist in rural Queensland before returning to James Cook University for further study in Law and to work in the JCU Speech Pathology Department. His JCU work included being a clinical educator in the JCU clinic, being the lead clinical educator and managing the JCU internal clinics, lecturing in linguistics, lecturing in clinical practice, and lecturing in ethics and health Law. In 2022 he also became an admitted lawyer with the Queensland Supreme Court, although his truest passion lies in speech pathology.
In February 2023, Gareth moved to Melbourne where he started a role with DWSP. Gareth sees clients across the lifespan and has professional interests in literacy, speech, language, voice, transgender voice needs, fluency, and social skills. Gareth can be found in our Northcote, Coburg, and Footscray clinics, as well as running sessions via telehealth.
Georgina joined the DWSP team in 2021 during one of Melbourne's lockdowns. She completed of her Master of Speech Pathology at Charles Sturt University following studies earlier in her career including a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science majoring in zoology and environmental science.
Georgina has experience in language, speech, and literacy assessment of primary school-age children and the delivery of intensive language and speech-sound therapy to children. She also has experience in providing assessment and therapy to adults following strokes and other acquired brain injuries.
Georgina believes establishing a trusting and collaborative relationship with clients and their family is key to therapy engagement and achievement of communication goals. A client's speech pathology journey needs to be meaningful and tailored to their interests, and some fun along the way is a must!
Georgina views frequent self-reflection on her clinical skills and professional knowledge as critical in continuing to provide a high standard of evidence-based practice. Her areas of professional interest include speech-sound disorders, and language and literacy difficulties. Georgina currently provides school-based services to primary-aged children and clinic based services at our Coburg site
Hannah completed her education at La Trobe University in 2021, earning a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Masters of Speech Therapy.
Prior to joining Dee Wardrop, Hannah honed her expertise in a multi-disciplinary clinic, where she provided speech pathology services to individuals spanning various age groups, from young children to adults with disabilities.
Hannah is a bubbly and friendly clinician, passionate about working in clinics, collaboratively within schools, kindergartens and preschools. She firmly believes that incorporating enjoyable and stimulating activities into therapy sessions enhances client engagement and optimises their learning potential.
Hannah works in schools and our Coburg clinic.
Hannah joined the DWSP team in January 2023. She has a background in linguistics and studied a Masters of Speech Pathology at the University of Melbourne. Hannah grew up with a love of language from an early age, and eventually landed on speech pathology as the best way to apply this passion in service of others.
Hannah has experience working as a speech pathologist in a range of education settings, with a focus on autism, alternative & augmentative communication (AAC), play & social skills, language, and literacy. She enjoys collaborating with teachers, teacher's aides, psychologists, and occupational therapists to improve educational outcomes for school-aged clients.
Having worked primarily in the school context, Hannah is looking forward to working more closely with clients and families in the clinic setting to achieve their communication goals and improve their quality of life.
Hannah works at the Coburg, Northcote, and Footscray clinics, as well as school-based settings.
Job Titles:
- Senior Occupational Therapist
Jade is one of our Senior Occupational Therapists, and has spend most of her career developing her skills and knowledge overseas in a range of disability, community, early intervention and educational settings.
She brings experience working with children from the early years through to school age, with a range of developmental delays and difficulties including cerebral palsy, complex neurological conditions, autism spectrum disorder, sensory integration difficulties, gross and fine motor difficulties and more. Jade works alongside one of our speech pathologists to run the DWSP multi-disciplinary feeding clinic and feeding groups, to improve mealtime participation and outcomes for fussy eaters and children with food aversions or feeding challenges.
In addition to working as an occupational therapist, Jade is also a qualified hydro-therapist, and has experience providing water-based therapy for children with cerebral palsy, motor impairments, and sensory integration difficulties.
Jade's special interests involve working with children with complex needs and trauma-based backgrounds, assisting them to develop the skills and confidence to lead meaningful, productive lives. Her previous roles have included the development and delivery of educational and therapeutic-based programs to children and families of refugee and non-English speaking backgrounds - roles which have provided Jade with a greater appreciation for the need for cultural sensitivity and the development of trust and collaboration when building therapeutic relationships.
Jade is warm and engaging, and is passionate about the relationships that she builds with her clients and their families. She believes in working together with the families to develop goals that are meaningful and achievable, and continually seeks out new learning opportunities to ensure that her therapy sessions are fun and evidence-based.
Jaime has a Bachelors of Speech Language Pathology from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Jaime moved to Melbourne in June 2022 and has a background working in Early Intervention, Special School and the Department of Education over the past 5 years. Her interest areas include Early Language and Autism Spectrum Disorder and she is very passionate about embedding activities into daily routines and working alongside the adults that surround the children to make therapy functional and enjoyable.
Jaime can be found at our Coburg and Northcote clinics.
Jane is one of DWSP's senior occupational therapists and has extensive experience working across early intervention and paediatric mental health settings.
She is passionate about providing evidence-based therapy services to children and their families with a focus on child-led interactions and family-centred therapy. Her approach to therapy is playful, caring and focuses on how to maximise progress by integrating strategies for skill development into everyday family life.
Jane specialises in supporting children with ASD and other neurodevelopmental issues and their families with the development of play and interaction skills, understanding and managing sensory processing issues and developing emotional regulation and self-regulation skills.
She has additional training in the DIR/Floortime, ESDM, Family Partnerships, Learn to Play and TEACCH models of practice.
Jane works in our Northcote and Eltham clinics.
Jessie joined DWSP as a graduate OT in 2021, with a Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy. Jessie takes a strength-based and holistic approach to her clients; she believes enabling her clients' meaningful participation can maximise their life qualities. Jessie is also undertaking further professional development in neuro affirmative practice, and working with ASD and ADHD clients. Jessie has done further professional development in sensory processing, floortime and motor planning.
Jessie emphasizes the priority and strength of both the individuals and the people around them, and assists families to navigate services and support at different transition points.
Jessie worked as nurse for more than 10 years before joining DWSP and she has experience in Brain injury Rehabilitation, Community Health and Occupational Health.
Jessie speaks English and Chinese, she has experience working with CALD background.
Jessie works at Northcote, Coburg & Footscray clinics and in schools.
Josie joined the DWSP team in 2021. She graduated La Trobe University with a Masters of Occupational Therapy Practice. Along the way, Josie has also completed a Bachelor of Music (Honours) and a Bachelor of Science with a major in anatomy.
Previously working in private practice before joining the DWSP team, Josie brings her experience of working with children with ASD, developmental delay and intellectual disability to the practice. With over ten years of music teaching experience as well, Josie brings creativity into her OT sessions, and puts a strong emphasis on ensuring that therapy is fun and engaging for children.
Josie is warm and gentle, and is passionate about forming strong relationships with families to help children achieve their goals.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Occupational Therapist & Assistant Clinical Director
Julia graduated from Latrobe University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Health Science and Master of Occupational Therapy Practice. Julia has a background working in government special and special developmental schools and brings with her experience in navigating educational systems and working in collaboration with teaching and school leadership teams to DWSP.
Julia has extensive experience supporting primary and secondary-aged children with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and global developmental delay. She is passionate about building strong support systems around children to maximise learning, success, and participation.
Julia is an Assistant Clinical Director, leading our Occupational Therapy and Schools & Education Service streams and works with clinicians and schools to provide therapy and professional learning services in education settings. She also coordinates DWSP Group Programs and loves to find creative and fun ways to connect participants to develop their skills in functional and practical settings.
Job Titles:
- Clinical Director / Speech Pathologist
Job Titles:
- Clinical Director / Speech Pathologist
Job Titles:
- Assistant Clinical Director / Professional Practices