SPEAKERS.
MEET CHRIS BUGAJ
Christopher R. Bugaj, MA CCC‐SLP is a founding member of the Assistive Technology Team for Loudoun County Public Schools. Chris co-hosts the Talking With Tech podcast featuring interviews and conversations about augmentative and alternative communication and has hosted The A.T.TIPSCAST; a multi‐award winning podcast featuring strategies to design educational experiences.
MEET SARAH DOUGLAS
Sarah Douglas, PhD is an assistant professor at Michigan State University. She has conducted numerous studies using telehealth models to support children with complex communication needs and has a current grant with the US department of education using hybrid telehealth models with teachers and paraeducators. Her interventions have provided supports to teachers, paraeducators, parents, siblings, and extended family members.
MEET LEANNA FOX
Leanna is a Speech Pathologist who is passionate about supporting people who have complex communication needs to participate fully in all aspects of life. Trained at Sydney University she developed her skills across a variety of settings including those in the Republic of Ireland, rural NSW and now in Sydney city. Most recently Leanna works for Liberator Pty Ltd., where she provides direct clinical services to children and adults, whole school support for a Sydney School, and provides clinical supervision for Speech Pathologists. In addition to this she also runs professional workshops such as LAMP (Language Acquisition Motor Planning) and other AAC topics across Australia.
MEET NERISSA HALL
Growing up among educators and entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa, Nerissa has always been fascinated by people, learning, communication and social justice.
With business partner, Hillary Jellison, she created Commūnicāre, LLC. Their aim is to work to enrich the lives of all people through innovation, engagement, empowerment and independence.
Nerissa and Hillary work to leverage the functional use of high-tech and lite-tech solutions, bridging the gap between education and technology, to promote access, learning and independence not only of the individuals with different abilities, but the families and teams who support them.
MEET RACHEL MADEL
Rachel Madel M.A.,CCC-SLP is a Los Angeles-based speech-language pathologist and communication expert dedicated to coaching parents and professionals on how to incorporate technology to best support speech and language development. Rachel presents both nationally and abroad on the use of augmentative alternative communication (AAC) for children with complex communication needs and coaches clinicians, teachers and parents on integrating technology in classrooms and at home to support communication.
MEET GENEVIEVE JOHNSSON
Genevieve joined Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) 11 years ago as a psychologist and has worked across home, centre and school based programs providing support to individuals on the autism spectrum and their families. Genevieve is currently employed in the role of Practice Leader (Innovation) and has overseen the development and delivery of Aspect’s tele-practice programs. Genevieve completed her PhD at the University of Sydney investigating models of technology-based training and support for rural and remote professionals.
MEET REBECCA SUTHERLAND
Rebecca Sutherland is the senior speech pathologist at the Child Development Unit, Children's Hospital at Westmead, and is an assistant professor in Speech Pathology at the University of Canberra. She has a PhD from Griffith University, focused on telehealth for diverse learners, including children with autism, and a Master of Health Science (Developmental Disability) from the University of Sydney. Rebecca's research and clinical interests include autism, literacy and telehealth.
MEET ANDY SMIDT
Andy is a speech pathologist and lecturer at the University of Sydney. Her PhD was about supporting staff who work with people with intellectual disability and challenging behaviour to modify their own communication.
Andy is the author of MOSAIC (A model of Screening for the Analysis of Interaction and Communication) which has just been published in its 3rd edition.
Andy is also involved in research about interventions for people with severe intellectual disability including key word sign and SensEngage.