Amanda Rollins, MS, CCC-SLP

I am a graduate of Texas A&M University where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications in December of 2002. In 2005, I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Masters of Science in Communication Disorders. For the first two and half years of my career I worked in a variety of settings including the University of Texas at Dallas in the Early Services for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders program, Our Children’s House Baylor within their feeding program, as well as within a private practice.  Within these early years of my career I was lucky to be given many opportunities to develop and implement numerous Play, Social and Language Groups for children ages 18 months to 5 years; create home programs for families; create school programs for families and teachers; work collaboratively with other professionals (OTs, PTs, Psychologists and more); work collaboratively with various public and private schools and much more. 

My professional emphasis began within my love for Autistic children but has grown to currently focus on Autism, language delays, language disorders, social communication disorders, pragmatic disorders, non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD, anxiety, dyslexia, selective mutism and more from 16 months to adult hood. I have worked closely with families/caregivers, teachers, siblings and other professionals within a variety of settings for the purpose of creating the best language, social and academic environment for each individual child and family. 

In 2008 Laura and I opened Kidspeak, LLC with the idea of providing family and child centered therapy within the foundation of the SCERTS® Model (by Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, & Laurent) and elements of Social Thinking® (by Michelle Garcia Winner) to increase each child’s skills in a variety of areas including: social communication, receptive language, play, social play, joint attention, executive functioning, emotional regulation, perspective taking and theory of mind, academic, classroom, pragmatic skills and much more.

Together Laura and I have created an environment at KidSpeak, LLC that is supportive for all of our children, families, teachers and therapists. We currently provide a variety of services for our families including individual therapy, group therapy, shadowing, school consulting, home consulting, shadow consulting, facilitating play dates, and more; all 100% tailored to each family’s specific needs.  We pride ourselves in working as a TEAM to help all our families with whatever area they may be struggling as well as to continue to develop new family centered programs for all our families based on their individual wants and needs.

Not many people can truly say that they love what they do; therefore, I feel lucky to truly LOVE what I do!

 

Laura Hagan, MS, CCC-SLP

Laura was born and raised in Waco, Texas.  She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology.  In 2006 she received her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology from Texas Woman’s University.

Growing up Laura always had an interest in neurodiversity, as her mother was in the field and worked for an Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program.  For many years, Laura had the opportunity to observe therapy, attend the company’s holiday events, and play with the sweet kiddos.

Laura began to work with autistic children and their families in her early 20’s.  She gained experience and knowledge about different models of therapy and autism – how each child is special and unique, with his or her own strengths and challenges, just like all human beings.  Laura especially loved working in the children’s homes and school environments, as well as creating relationships with the parents and teachers. 

Before starting KidSpeak, Laura worked with an ECI company in DFW as well as an outpatient private practice, where she met Amanda.  She worked with children and teens with a variety of different diagnoses and learning differences.  In 2007, Laura began to learn about the SCERTS® Model from Amanda, and she was completely blown away with each child’s progress and with the family involvement that it allowed.  Laura and Amanda wanted to be able to provide families with more and to help across all aspects of life.  It was then, in 2008, that they decided to open KidSpeak.

In her 15 years of experience as an SLP, Laura has developed a keen interest in ADHD, anxiety disorders, emotional regulation, Theory of Mind, and Executive Functioning Skills with school-aged children and teens.  She loves to help these clients increase their confidence and self-awareness; to help them set and work towards their own academic, relationship, and life goals; and to help them find and experience their joys in life.  She also loves working with toddlers and young children with articulation and language difficulties and has a passion for educating the community about infant and child development, neurodiversity, and learning differences.

Laura lives in Dallas with her two children and kitty.  During her free time she enjoys music, the beach, baking, organizing, laughing with her family and friends, and working on her latest research project of discovering the best frozen margarita in Texas.  She can’t wait to meet you and your family.