Catriona Cavanagh

Catriona is registered with CORU, Ireland’s regulatory body for Speech and Language Therapists, Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists and Independent Speech-Language Therapists of Ireland.

Catriona graduated from Newcastle University, England in 2013 with a BSc (Hons) in Speech and Language Sciences. Following graduation, Catriona secured a job as a Speech and Language Therapist in Wirral, Merseyside. This role had Catriona working within mainstream primary and secondary schools to identify and support speech, language and communication difficulties among the children.

She particularly enjoyed working with primary children with speech sound disorders and developmental language disorder and secondary school aged children with challenging behavioural issues.

Values

• To promote the wellbeing of the children and young people

• To provide a local service on a regular basis

• To promote a child and family centered approach

• To encourage the use of Total Communication Approach

• To celebrate and build on the children and young people's existing skills

• To provide therapy that is fun and motivating for the individual

• To promote social inclusion and integration in the community

• To support children and young people reaching their full potential

• To provide a service without waiting lists

Catriona then got the opportunity to specialize in the areas mentioned above. Moving from mainstream schools to specialist language resource bases and specialist behavioural secondary schools where she managed complex caseloads and coordinated Speech and Language Assistants. Through this role, Catriona found herself in the position of developing and writing reports and legal documents for the Local Education Authority on Speech and Language Therapy provision.

Catriona became frustrated with the time it took for children to be identified for a place at the language resource bases, meaning they were missing out on early intervention that was so important to their development and skills. Catriona developed a specialist pathway for these children. She designed and ran specialist early language groups and clinics as well as writing thorough criteria for other therapists to use to help identify early risk factors for a speech and language disorder. This pathway was hugely successful and was nominated in the ‘Best Innovation’ category of the staff awards for the local NHS trust.