Meet the team

Sarah is a Senior Educational and Child Psychologist and a registered member of the Psychological Society of Ireland (membership number M13114) with a particular interest in the assessment and identification of autism, dyslexia, and co-occurring conditions.

Sarah began her journey completing degrees in primary teaching and psychology at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Sarah worked as a primary school teacher in both mainstream and special education roles, prior to her professional psychology training.

Sarah then completed her Doctorate in Educational Psychology in University College Dublin in 2018. Throughout her doctoral training, Sarah gained experience in a variety of settings including the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), Child Disability services (Enable Ireland, Early Intervention & Autism Teams) and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

Sarah worked as a psychologist in public sector child disability and autism services from September 2018 to August 2022. Alongside working in the public system, Sarah has provided private psychology services since 2018. Sarah now works full-time in the private sector, providing educational and child psychology services.

Sarah guest lectures on the educational and child psychology doctoral programme in Mary Immaculate College Limerick in areas including psychological testing, the application of Polyvagal Theory in supporting emotional regulation, and conflict resolution. She has also provided guest lecturing input on the educational psychology doctoral programme in University College Dublin. Sarah has also worked as an assistant residential coordinator and instructor for the Centre for Talented Youth of Ireland at Dublin City University and University College Cork, and presented an on-demand session at the biennial world conference for the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children in 2021.

Karen is a CORU registered Speech and Language Therapist, and member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) and Independent Speech Language Therapists of Ireland (ISTI). She graduated from University College Cork in 2015 and has worked in a range of settings including Early Intervention, School Age Disability and Primary Care services in both Ireland and Australia. Karen has a keen interest in facilitating the communication preferences of Autistic children and young people, and supporting their communication partners to communicate more effectively.

Karen is dedicated to providing a child/family centred service and is passionate about supporting children achieve to their full potential. She strives to adopt a neurodiversity affirmative approach in her clinical practice.

She is committed to continuous professional development and has completed training in the following areas; Hanen ‘It Takes Two to Talk’, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS 2), Lamh Module 1 & 2, DIR Floortime, Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme, Derbyshire Language Scheme, Michael Palin ‘Parent Child Interaction’, and Sensory Integration, Attachment and Trauma: An ntroduction Webinar. Karen endeavours to be an ally to the Autistic community and has undertaken additional training on Neurodiversity, including; The Inside of Autism with Kieran Rose, Embracing Autistic Children, Empowering Autistic Women and Girls, Autism and The Social World, and Neurodiversity in SLT Practice.

As a CORU registered speech and language therapist, Orlaith is dedicated to supporting children and young people to communicate to the best of their ability while validating their individual communication preferences. Orlaith graduated from National University of Ireland, Galway in 2018 and has worked in both primary care and disability services, with children from 0–18 years.

Orlaith engages in regular continuous professional development and has completed trainings in the following areas; Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS-2), Lámh Module 1, DIR Floortime, Derbyshire Language Scheme, Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme. In recent years, Orlaith has developed a keen interest in the neurodiversity movement and is engaging more in trainings relating to neurodiversity, including; The Inside of Autism with Kieran Rose, Autism Level Up, Divergent Perspectives – Speech and Language Therapy Outcomes, as well as trainings ran by AUsome Ireland.

Orlaith strives to adopt a neurodiversity affirmative approach to her clinical practice. She is committed to working collaboratively with Autistic and otherwise neurodivergent children and young people, their families, education settings, and other services to explore and consider environmental adaptations and accommodations that may support each individual child/ young person as well as working directly with individual clients to support their communication.

Dr Sarah Kearns

Karen Coleman

Orlaith Shortt