Kelly Dwyer

Dedicated Communication Specialist committed to nurturing children's communication abilities and supporting families. Expertise in early relationship-based interventions emphasizes the importance of family, community, and cultural contexts in fostering communicative, social, emotional, developmental, and behavioral development. Expertise engaging patients/student, families, and communities to enhance intervention knowledge and strategies for co-regulation. Focus on specialties such as childhood violence intervention, pre-verbal communication attunement, and the complexities of psychological and neuro-physiological child development. Utilizes evidence-based practices for improved communication. Skilled in addressing caregiving dysregulation and infant-caregiver attachment issues, including attachment trauma, to promote holistic growth and resilience. Known for strong team collaboration and adaptability in dynamic healthcare and educational environments.

Child Development Center of Marin; Speech Marin- - January 2024 – April 2024 Graduate Student Speech Clinician

• At Speech Marin I provided therapy for children age 1-12 years with mild to severe diagnosis including autism, down syndrome, apraxia, mixed receptive/expressive disorder, feeding aversion, specific learning disabilities, hearing impairment, and phonological as well as articulation disorders. I focused extensively on appropriate social communication, intelligibility, and articulatory goals.
• Customized curriculum and implemented therapeutic activities for groups and individuals
• Conducted sessions using a combination of articulation applications
• Facilitate a communication simulated work activity wherein 6 student take orders and deliver coffee to staff
• Collaborated with a team of SLPs and translator to formulate best practice and care.

Del Amigo Adult Transition School - August 2023 – December 2023 Graduate Student Speech Clinician: San Ramon Unified School District

• At Del Amigo I served young adults age 18-21 years with mild to severe diagnosis including emotional disturbances, autism, schizophrenia, hearing loss, orthopedic impairment, hard of hearing, intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, specific learning disabilities, speech or language impaired, and visual impairment including blindness. I focused extensively on appropriate social communication, intelligibility, breath coordination and implementation of AAC devices
• Customized therapeutic curriculum to groups and individuals, present core words and conducted tailored activities with 5 classrooms of varying abilities
• Facilitated a communication simulated work activity wherein 6 student take orders and deliver coffee to staff
• Collaborated with the SLP and Special Needs Psychologist in an Social Emotional Group lesson to adjust therapy approach and develop ideas

SPG Therapy & Education May 2023 – June 2023 Graduate Student Speech Clinician: Berkeley Unified School District

• Placement at Rosa Parks Elementary School in Berkeley, CA for their 5-week summer Extended School Program (ESY) that serves incoming kindergarteners through 5th graders with Individual Education Program (IEP) needs in order to maintain their academic, social, and communication skills during the summer
• Provided direct therapy services to children with a focus on individual goals for articulation, intelligibility, AAC integration, language expression, and social/pragmatics.
• Collaborated with the teacher and supportive aids in the moderate-severe classroom every morning
• Collaborated with the Occupational Therapist on weekly group activities
• Conduct and planning curriculum activities for small groups and individuals with a range of diagnosis including articulation, intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, characteristics associated with autism, specific learning disability, emotional disturbance, and speech or language impaired.
• Ascend Rehab Services May 2023 – August 2023 Graduate Student Speech Clinician: Private Practice
• Provided direct play-based therapy services to children age 2 to 8 years with a child-centered approach in a clinical setting
• Developed customized curriculum based on communication needs in the areas of language expressive and receptive abilities, speech sound production, articulation, and social aspects of communication
• Generated SOAP notes and progress reports for insurance funded and private pay clients
• The children have various diagnosis including autism, apraxia, PDA, SLI, speech differences, and rare genetic disorders.
• Collaborated with SLP supervisor

Speech Goals Speech Therapy, Inc.- August 2022 – December 2022 Graduate Student Speech Clinician : Private Practice

• Speech Goals provides families with the most ideal therapeutic strategies and parent education for optimal communicative growth for their child. Unlike other speech therapy
• Observe teleconference and in-person interviews and assessments with families alongside social workers and clinicians
• Conduct therapeutic activities that encourage vocalizations and verbalizations with children 13 months to 3 years of age in both English and Spanish
• Provide parent coaching and counseling through modeling and educational support
• Collaboration with occupational therapists and early interventions to create appropriate goals and tailor activities that will enhance skills
• Collect speech samples and data to enhance assessment notes and reports

• Apraxia Battery for Adults (ABA-2)
• Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE-2)
• Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-2)
• Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V)
• Eating Assessment Tool (Eat-10)
• Expressive Vocabulary Test (EVT-5)
• Functional Communication Profile- Revised (FCP-R)
• Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation (GFTA-3)
• Khan-Lewis Phonological Analysis (KLPA-3)
• Metaphonological Awareness Checklist - Preschool
• Oral Speech Motor Exam (OSME)
• Phonological and Print Awareness Scale (PPA)
• Preschool Language Scale (PLS-5)
• Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Rating Scale (RITLS)
• Voice Handicap Index (VHI)

• OUSD- Keep Talking! Narrative Development for Language and Social Learning - January 2026
• Phonological Approaches & Elicitation Strategies - February 2025
• Selective Mutism - December 2024
• Clinical Education Unit (CEU): Social and Vocational Impacts of Voice Disorders - October 2023 Examining characteristics of voice in terms of measurements such as pitch, loudness, quality, intelligibility and sustainability. Covered evidence-based research regarding vocal hygiene, health and recovery strategies due to overuse.
• Developing your Emotional Intelligence - September 2022 Gemma Leigh Roberts helps professionals align your intentions and impact by becoming more self-aware of your triggers, managing emotional reactions, shifting your perspectives, and shaping your behavior to strengthen and create collaborative relationships.
• Parenting in the Digital Age- March 2018 The Art of Screen Time Parent Webinar prepared by the Broadway Children’s School of Oakland discusses researcher Anya Kamenetz’ honest, refreshing view on managing the role of technology in kid’s lives.
• Surviving Compassion Fatigue: The Importance of Self-Care - February 2017 Beverly Kyer, MSW, CSW, ACSW presented an interactive training designed to address the self-care needs of those working with children, you, and adults impacted by traumatic life events.
• What’s your Gender? Identifying and Supporting Children’s Gender Creativity - March 2016 Diane Ehrensaft, associate professor of Pediatrics at UCSF and published author, presents her research, clinical work, and consultation related to gender-nonconforming children. She discusses how to support children discover their gender identity and development in young children.
• Creative Curriculum for Infant, Toddlers and Twos - August 2015 A comprehensive curriculum that offers expanded daily support, guidance, and inspiration to teachers and caregivers. These tools aid in improving ways to foster children’s learning and growth while building meaningful partnerships with families.