| Speech Therapist
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 | Vicky Scipione MSPA, CPSP Vicky is a mother of two boys who both had difficulty accessing speech pathology services in Canberra. It was this experience, and the desire to help children access services in Canberra, that led her into becoming a Speech Pathologist. Vicky holds a Masters degree in Speech Pathology as well as further specialised training in Sounds-Write - an evidence based synthetic systematic phonics program. Vicky enjoys working with school aged children in particular for literacy, speech sound disorders, social skills and language. Vicky is very excited to be working with our clients and their families to help them make meaningful gains in speech, language and communication. Vicky works with children aged 5 years and older. |
| Occupational Therapists
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 | Rose Maskill Rose completed a Bachelor of Sport Coaching & Exercise Science before completing a Master of Occupational Therapy at the University of Canberra. This has provided her a well-rounded knowledge and skills base which enables her to view her clients holistically. Rose delivers a comprehensive service that incorporates client, family, and occupation-centred approaches to practice. Rose has experience working with paediatric clients at EACH, ACT with a variety of diagnoses such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Down Syndrome, ODD, Sensory Processing difficulties and Global Developmental Delay. She specialises in delivering evidence-based occupational therapy services to assist client’s in developing their fine and gross motor skills, emotional regulation abilities, social skills, and independence when completing self-care tasks. Rose is very excited to be working with our clients and their families to help them achieve their meaningful occupation focused goals. Rose in her spare time enjoys spending time with her friends and hanging out with her dog Pepper. Rose sees children aged 2 years and older. |
 | Cate Hilly Cate has enjoyed collaborating with children and families for over 20 years to participate in meaningful occupations such as parent/child interactions, playing with same aged peers, completing daily routines, preparing for school, and participating in school and the community. Cate has completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and a Master of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy). Her master’s thesis explored the experiences of collaborative goal setting with parents of children with disabilities and occupational therapists. This research resulted in changed goal setting practices in the ACT. Cate is currently a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate through Australian Catholic University investigating the feasibility of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance ApproachTM (CO-OP) to improve performance and participation for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and motor coordination difficulties. More information about the CO-OP Approach can be found here https://icancoop.org/pages/the-co-op-approach. Cate participates in research and uses contemporary, evidence-based practice to continually develop her occupational therapy and provide effective, quality services. Cate is FASD informed and has previous experience working in a multidisciplinary FASD diagnostic service and provided services to children and families in Queensland. Cate is excited to join Canberra Development Clinic to offer motor assessments to children considering a FASD or Developmental Coordination Disorder diagnosis. Cate is also available to provide developmental/play assessments to support young children (3–5-year-olds) develop their play skills. She is also available to support autism assessments of children any age. Cate enjoys gardening, cooking, exercise, spending time with friends and cross stitching. What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)? FASD is a diagnostic term used to describe the impacts of prenatal alcohol exposure. On average, women become aware of being pregnant at 5 weeks’ gestation and may have unknowingly consumed alcohol early during pregnancy. There is no safe amount of alcohol to drink when pregnant and current Australian health guidelines recommend no drinking during conception, pregnancy, or breastfeeding. People with FASD will experience challenges in daily living and may need support with motor skills, physical health, learning, memory, attention, communication, emotional regulation and social skills to participate in daily life. Each person with FASD is unique and has both abilities and challenges. More information about FASD can be found at https://www.nofasd.org.au/ What is Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)? Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting a person’s ability to learn and perform motor tasks such as riding a bike, doing up buttons, writing, catching a ball climbing monkey bars. People with DCD do not grow out of it but can learn strategies to overcome daily activity challenges and participate meaningfully and independently in life. Signs of DCD include: · Appearing awkward or clumsy · Bumping into things, people · Dropping things · Difficulty with gross or fine motor activities such as catching, jumping, writing, doing buttons · Tire easily more so than others when moving · Difficulty learning new movement skills · Avoid tasks that require movement and coordination e.g., playing team sports · Difficulty planning how to move e.g., a dance routine Further information and a great video explaining what is DCD and why seeking a diagnosis is important can be found at https://dcdaustralia.org.au/ Currently DCD is not recognised as a disability by the NDIS. DCD can co-occur with other disabilities that may be eligible for the NDIS. Having a diagnosis is helpful to communicate to teachers, sports coaches, other family members, children and to provide adjustments to support people with DCD participate in daily activities. Cate is available for comprehensive assessments, reports with recommendations and feedback sessions. As she is completing her PhD she is unable to offer ongoing therapy. Please contact our reception staff to discuss her availability and fees. |
| Psychologists
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 | Nicholas Catto - Clinical Psychologist Nicholas is a registered Clinical Psychologist who has worked in private practice in Canberra for the past five years. Originally from New Zealand, he completed his internship year working in an Adult Community Mental Health Service. Prior to moving to Australia in 2016, he worked for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in their co-existing mental health and drug and alcohol youth service. Whilst trained in a number of different therapeutic techniques, Nicholas predominately uses a cognitive behavioural therapy and schema therapy approach to his work. He sees clients from across the lifespan, working with children, adolescents, and adults. Nicholas is experienced in working with a range of mental health presentations including trauma, mood disorders, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder, along with those who are neurodivergent |
| Peter Bland - Registered Psychologist Peter provides cognitive, educational and adaptive assessments to gain an understanding of the client’s cognitive/learning strengths and weakness, and general functioning, compared to same age or grade peers. Peter understands everyone learns differently and aims to tailor recommendations to support the client’s specific needs. He has experience in assessment, diagnosing Specific Learning Disorders or Intellectual Disability, providing reading and maths training to children, facilitating group programs and delivering educational presentations to teachers and parents. Peter does learning assessments only and does not see clients for therapy. |
 | Melissa Hogan - Provisional Psychologist Melissa is a Provisional Psychologist which means she has completed a 4-year university degree and is now completing a 2-year internship to become a Registered Psychologist under AHPRA’s 4+2 pathway. Melissa graduated from the University of Canberra in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology before completing her Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at Bond University in 2022. Melissa completed her Honours dissertation in 2021 which researched the distinction of remorse from the emotions of guilt and shame and the effects of personality traits on the presence and presentation of remorse. Prior to working at the Canberra Development Clinic, Melissa volunteered as a counsellor during the 2019/2020 bushfires and the 2021 ACT lockdown. She has experience working with a range of presentations such as anxiety, depression, conduct disorders, ASD, and ADHD. |
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 | Jorja Zollinger - Clinical Psychologist Jorja completed a Master of Clinical Psychology in 2016. Since this time, she has worked in the school system and in private practice with a particular interest in psychological assessment. Jorja believes that assessment is more than just a diagnosis, instead she see’s assessment as the beginning of a journey of understanding. In this vein, her reports are focused on understanding how a diagnosis applies to an individual, as well as what this means for their future functioning. Jorja aims to provide a comfortable, warm, and easy to navigate assessment process for families. Jorja does ASD, ADHD and learning assessments only and does not see clients for therapy. Jorja will be returning from maternity leave in March 2024. |
 | Sherly O'Hara - Provisional Psychologist Dr Sherly O’Hara is a qualified Educational and Child Psychologist from the UK. She moved to Canberra in March 2023. She has provisional psychologist status in Australia. This means she is doing certain hours in Australia before she can acquire unconditional registration as a psychologist here. She is due to complete this requirement by March 2024. In the UK she provided a highly specialist service within the NHS (National Health Service) CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service) to young people and their families within the multidisciplinary Neurodevelopmental Team. She offered assessments, diagnosis, and treatments to a wide variety of clinical presentations, including disabilities/intellectual disabilities, ASD, ADHD, other learning needs and mental health, for under 5s, and 5 to over 18 years age groups. She brings substantial experience and knowledge of conducting comprehensive assessments, including a variety of standardised and non-standardised assessments and screeners to explore Children and Young People’s cognition and learning, communication and interaction, and social emotional and mental health. She firmly believes in enabling clients to be active participants in the decisions, processes and actions that involve them. She considers a key aspect of her role to model hope, positivity and to help with seeing that ‘things can be different’. |
| Family Coaching |
 | Charlene Lalor - Child and Family Coach Charlene has been a school leader and teacher in Canberra for 20 years and works with neurodiverse learners and families from Preschool to Year 12. She has qualifications and broad experience in primary teaching, educational leadership, gifted education and educational coaching with families and educators. |