New Speech and Language Therapist (February-2011)
Hi, my name is Deirdre and I am the new Senior Speech and Language Therapist in St. Mary's School for Deaf Girls.
I graduated with an Honours Degree in Applied Psychology from the University College Cork in 2002. I worked for a number of years as a Class Teacher in a school for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Dublin. Following this I co-ordinated a number of home programmes for Children with Autism using a method of teaching called Applied Behaviour Analysis.
I went on to train in the University of Limerick and graduated with an Honours Masters Degree in Speech and Language Therapy in 2007. I worked for a well known private Clinic; Arc Speech and Language Therapy Clinic in Dublin. My work here involved working with a large and varied caseload of children with communication difficulties including a large caseload of children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
My work also included delivery of a school based service for three primary schools and a pre-school in Ballyfermot. I was also involved in multi-disciplinary team assessments for the diagnosis of ASD. I have been working for the HSE LHO Dublin North West since January 2010. Since this time I have had the responsibility for managing the caseload of Deaf children in a health centre.
I am a member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. I am engaged in continuous training and professional development. I have been trained in Hanen "It takes two to talk" and "more than words", Lidcombe programme for stammering and Palin PCI for preschool children who stammer. I am trained in PECS and I am studying Irish Sign Language. I have attended a number of study days and courses for working with Deaf children.
I am looking forward to working closely with all the students, parents and staff in St. Marys School.
