Leanne Shellshear

Leanne completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honors Class I) at the University of Queensland in 2011. She has worked in education, community health, health promotion, research and private practice in Brisbane, London and Barcelona. Her experience includes a wide range of consultancy, training, assessment, parent coaching, and direct individual and group intervention with neurodivergent children and children with communication difficulties.

She is passionate about supporting autistic children and their families. Leanne has completed training in assessment (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2); MIGDAS-2 Neuroaffirmative child autism assessment) and a range of intervention models and approaches (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Supports (SCERTS) Model; Hanen More Than Words; Early Start Denver Model (ESDM); DIR Floortime). She also draws on her experience and understanding of therapy approaches and resources such as Attention Autism, Colourful Semantics, Lego Therapy, Talking Mats and Autism Level Up.

Leanne is an advocate for neurodiversity-affirming practice. She offers intervention based on child and family strengths, interests and priorities. Her approach is supportive, positive, play-based and focused on empowering parents and carers to understand social communication differences and build meaningful connections.

She is also trained in approaches to support children who are late to start communicating (Hanen It Takes Two to Talk) and those with fluency difficulties (Lidcombe Program).

With a passion for equitable access to services and flexible options for families, Leanne is delighted to provide online assessment and intervention sessions (telehealth) with Speechcare.