Meet Teresa

Hello!

I’m a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist based in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. I hail from Perth, WA originally but have also lived in NT and NSW.

I completed my Master of Speech Pathology at the University of Canberra. I began working in private practice, supporting children and adults with communication and swallowing disorders. I have experience in various settings, including early education, schools, clinics, home visits, aged care, and day programs.

I’m passionate about advocating for children’s communication needs, working collaboratively with families, educators, and multidisciplinary health teams (e.g. Occupational Therapist, Psychologist, GP, Paediatrician) to achieve the best outcomes for children.

My special interests include early language development, neurodivergent communicators, feeding and stuttering.

I have extensive lived experience as a neurodivergent parent, carer and advocate for my two children.

Frameworks that guide my practice:

1) Neurodiversity affirming (natural diversity that exists in human neurodevelopment)

2) Social model of disability (people as disabled by society, not by their impairments)

3) Emotional regulation and “felt safety” (necessary prior to engaging in complex cognitive tasks)

Teresa Smith, MSPA, CPSP

she/her

Professional Development

I engage in continual professional development to enhance my clinical expertise and stay up to date with the latest high-quality evidence and research. Some of the training I have completed are:

  • Sounds-Write explicit literacy instruction program for school-aged children

  • ReST treatment technique for treating mild to moderate Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

  • DTTC temporal and tactile cueing techniques for treating severe CAS

  • Story Champs introduction to narrative intervention to support oral language skills in school aged-children

  • More than Words Hanen’s social communication program for young communicators and their parents

  • Learn to Play Therapy Foundation training to build a child’s play skills in a developmentally appropriate way

  • Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) for building communication skills in autistic individuals (who are GLP) and increase parent’s ability to tune-in and support their child’s unique communication.

  • Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA or Preferred Demand for Autonomy) Engagement and Therapeutic Adaptations using neurodiversity affirming approaches

  • Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) supporting clients in their therapy

  • Feeding and Eating Psychology Summit 2025 Assessment and integrated management of Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) and Avoidant Restrictive Feeding Intake Disorder (ARFID) across the lifespan

  • Neurodivergent Minds Conference 2025 - Panelist - Rewriting the rulebook: Parents, Clinicians and the push for Neuro-affirming systems