Welcome! I'm Huarda
I am an independent Speech and Language Therapist
I specialise in supporting neurodivergent children, young people and adults. More specifically I am passionate about all things autism and ADHD, although many of the children I work with do not have a formal or informal identification and some do not fit neatly into any category. I work within a neurodiversity-affirming framework. This means that I have deep respect for and value all types of minds (neurotypes) and aim to work in a highly individualised way, building on your unique profile, hopes and values. My goal is to support families using a collaborative and respectful approach, which often means thinking outside the box to come up with creative solutions together. I always enjoy learning from the families and young people I work with and aim to create a partnership with the people I support.
On a professional / academic level, my journey has been varied. I have worked with autistic and otherwise neurodivergent children since I was a teenager myself. I completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. After qualifying as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2012, my curiosity and thirst for knowledge led me to pursue a PhD in Psychology at the University of York which I completed in 2016. This experience involved collaborating with other European universities within a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commission. After completing my PhD, I worked in an independent group practice supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, and moved onto a more specialist role in a mental health organisation within a multidisciplinary team specialising in autism assessments and therapy. I set up Rainbow Brains and moved to independent practice in 2023. Since qualifying as a Speech and Language Therapist I have completed a range of professional courses including ADOS-2 training for autism assessments, SCERTS training, an introduction to brief solution-focused therapy, as well as training on Gestalt Language Processing / Natural Language Acquisition. I keep up to date with latest developments in Speech and Language Therapy through a variety of channels, including membership of Clinical Excellence Networks (CEN) such as the National Selective Mutism CEN, Diagnostics CEN and Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice CEN. I am registered with the HCPC and a full member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and the Association for Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP).
On a personal level, I am a parent and autistic myself. I enjoy developing deep connections with others and I value honesty, kindness, curiosity, compassion and respect in my personal and professional relationships. I love immersing myself in nature and making music with others, although I would like to do more of this! I enjoy discovering the variety and richness of different human experiences, and I strongly believe that diversity is to be celebrated in all its forms. I come from a multilingual and multicultural background, and I consider myself immensely privileged to have lived on three different continents before moving to the UK. I can provide therapy in English and French.
What People Say
Huarda has supported my 5 year old son for the past year. She has put a support system in place for him at home and school and I have watched him grow into a happy, confident communicator under her beautiful, gentle caring approach. Everything Huarda does for us is child led and she creates the most supportive environment to meet his needs and potential. He now waits for her visits with excitement and draws pictures of his fun friend Huarda.
Huarda is a knowledgeable and experienced supervisor. She skillfully creates a safe and supportive space for me to explore my clinical practice. Her ability to facilitate reflective discussions and engage in non-judgmental talk allows for deep self-exploration and professional growth. She encourages critical thinking while fostering confidence.
Myself and my daughter have been working with Huarda for around two years now and we are so glad that we found her! My little girl is a complicated case as previous SALTs have found. She has a brilliant imagination and typically when this happens, speech usually follows but not in her case and other professionals did not know what to do next. We were stuck until we met Huarda. She looks at the bigger picture, whether that be analytical or gestalt processing, looking at ways to assist communication or just simply tailoring it to my daughters very complex and unique journey, we are supported and helped every step of the way. Huarda also supports school staff to help provide the best language and communication opportunities within class, again not just sticking to traditional therapies and modelling but using lots of different strategies that are helping to develop my little girl's speech. She really is fantastic and I couldn’t recommend her more!
Huarda has delivered multiple training sessions to our staff on neurodiversity and effective speech and language strategies for use in the classroom. Each session was thoughtfully tailored to meet the specific needs of our school and provided a valuable balance of theory and practical application.
The training was delivered to a diverse group of teachers, working with students aged 4 to 15, and was appropriately adapted to suit the varying age groups and classroom contexts. Staff found the sessions both informative and highly relevant to their day-to-day teaching practice.