Let's Talk: Navigating Communication Services and Supports for Your Young Child with Autism

Rhea Paul, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a professor and founding director of the speech-language pathology graduate program at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, an affiliate at Haskins Laboratories, and Professor Emerita at Southern Connecticut State University.

She received her B.A. from Brandeis University, her master’s degree in reading and learning disabilities from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her Ph.D. in communication disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been a principal investigator on research projects on language disorders and autism funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, the National Alliance for Autism Research, Autism Speaks, the Meyer Memorial Trust, and the Oregon Medical Foundation, and was a principal investigator at the Yale Autism Center of Excellence.

She is the author of more than 100 refereed journal articles, 50 book chapters, and ten books. Along with colleague Donia Fahim, she hosts the podcast Let's Talk about Super Special Kids and Cake on iTunes and Spotify, aimed at supporting parents of children with disabilities.

In 1996, she received the Editor's Award from the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and was awarded the inaugural Ritvo/Slifka Award for Innovative Clinical Research by the International Society for Autism Research in 2010. She has been a fellow of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association since 1991 and received Honors of the Association in 2014.

Donia Fahim, Ph.D., MRCSLT, is Senior Consultant for the ASD Nest Project at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human at New York University, and adjunct Assistant Professor at Hunter College, where she was Program Coordinator for the Early Childhood Special Education Program from 2008 to 2013. She is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Autism Friendly Spaces, Inc. and developer of the first dual language ASD public school program in New York City. She obtained her B.Sc., M.A and Ph.D. from the University of London. She is a certified member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. For the last twenty years she has worked as an international consultant in speech and language pathology. From 1998 to 2007 she served as Clinical Director and founding member of The Egyptian Society for Developing Skills of Special Needs Children focusing on work with individuals with ASD and early intervention, where her focus was on developing organization-specific educational curriculum, clinical procedures and guidelines for special education for young children with special needs (e.g. Egypt: Advance Society, Learning Resource Center, Nida Center, Caritas; Saudi Arabia: Saudi Autistic Society; Nigeria: Patrick Center, Jordan: Early Years Center, Monetessori School of Amman). As a Global Master Trainer for UNICEF in Early Childhood Development in Emergency, she has provided and consulted on speech-language pathology services throughout the world, most often in the Middle East and Africa. She has appeared on national and international radio and television in the US, Africa and Asia. She has been an invited speaker at many leading international conferences and events hosted by both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Such as the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood in Egypt, UNESCO EFA (Education for All) conferences (Beirut); the Annual Autism Conference in Egypt, World Autism Congress and Exhibition in South Africa, the Stockholm Annual Autism Conference, the Saudi Autism awareness campaign. She was a Key Note Speaker at the 2014 Saudi International Occupational Therapy Conference, and has also received awards from the Saudi ministry of health for her contribution to parent training for families of children with ASD.