Julia Collino

Julia is a Speech and Language Therapist with over 35 years of NHS experience working with young people with a wide range of speech and language difficulties.  Over the last 20 years she has worked primarily with children and young people with autism. This has involved working in special education, community clinics and developing an under 5 early years autism pathway.   She has 13 years experience delivering PACT therapy.

Julia has worked within multidisciplinary autism diagnostic services, offering second opinions regarding autism diagnosis and supporting families in interaction and communication with their children. Julia has delivered training to colleagues and families, and has run post diagnostic workshops to support parents in their understanding of autism.

Hannah Foote 

Hannah is a Speech and Language Therapist, experienced in working with children and young people with a range of communication and interaction difficulties. For most of her career, Hannah has specialised in working with people with autism. Hannah has worked in community clinics and in both primary and secondary school settings, including specialist autism provisions. Hannah has experience in working for neurodevelopmental diagnostic services and in supporting parents/carers of children with autism spectrum disorders. 

Hannah is currently doing a PhD at University of Manchester. Hannah’s research is focused on ensuring that new interventions that are being researched are suitable for the patients that they are aiming to support.  

Lisa Slater

Lisa received her Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology from University of Newcastle in 2005. Lisa has practised speech and language therapy in a number of settings including: mainstream and special schools, a cochlear implant programme, community clinics and client’s homes. She has worked as a guest lecturer at the University of Newcastle on the BSc/MSc speech and language therapy courses. Lisa specialised in working with deaf children for many years and then began working with autistic children in a specialist charity provision.

Lisa has worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team within a second opinion diagnostic service for autism and other neuro-developmental disorders. In 2020, she delivered parent groups on managing repetitive behaviours as part of a research trial. Lisa also works privately with families delivering speech and language therapy, including PACT.  

Carol Taylor

Carol qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 1997, and has extensive experience in both NHS clinical practice and research. Over her career she has worked with children and young people with a wide range of communication difficulties and complex needs, including autism, in community clinics, mainstream and special education settings.

Carol has been closely involved with the development of the PACT intervention, including its use in schools and adaptation for delivery in low resource countries in South Asia. She has also been the supervising therapist in research trials of parent-led child interaction interventions for infants at risk of autism.

In 2015 Carol completed an PhD looking at factors affecting the quality of relationships between parents and therapists. More recently she co-led a research project investigating the experiences and needs of families of street connected children with communication difficulties in Kenya.

Karen Telling

Karen qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2003.  Karen developed a passion for working with children and young people with autism and their families early in her career. She has significant experience supporting children with autism in specialist educational settings. Karen has worked in multi-disciplinary diagnostic teams for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders providing second opinion assessments and specialist support for parents, carers and educational settings.

Karen currently works within a multi-disciplinary team in a specialist educational setting for children with complex social communication disorders. Karen continues to incorporate PACT into her therapy work.