About us

Christine Rose
Practice Manager

Christine qualified as a speech and language therapist in 1996, graduating from the University of Sheffield with an MMedSci. She has since worked with children with a wide range of speech, language, and communication needs in both the NHS and the private sector.

Christine specialises in working with children with Developmental Language Disorder. She also has a special interest in the link between children’s communication skills and their behaviour and emotional development.

In addition to her clinical work, Christine spent 5 years as a clinical tutor at City University working with students completing their post graduate diploma in speech and language therapy. The Learning Talking  Team continues to offer regular clinical training opportunities to speech and language therapy students.

Gael Birtill

Gael joined the LT team in July 2012, on graduating from City University. She works in primary schools where she is highly valued as an established part of the school community. Gael particularly enjoys working with parents and school staff; supporting the team around the child to understand and support the child. Gael is a talented artist and musician and loves going for walks with her dog Cooper.

Cat Andrew

Cat graduated as a speech and language therapist from City University in July 2013 and joined the team shortly afterwards. She is a passionate and talented therapist with a background in the arts and adult education. Cat is a great person to have in the team and has a real can – do attitude.  Cat enjoys working with speech and language therapy students and as well as supporting London-based students she also spends time working with a team of professionals in Vietnam supporting the development of the profession there.

Alongside her speech and language therapy day job Cat teaches drawing to adults who have communication difficulties.

Kathryn Smith

Kathryn has been a speech and language therapist with the team since 2013 following her graduation from City University. She particularly enjoys working with children/young people, families, and schools to develop holistic speech and language therapy and educational support plans. She is experienced in supporting schools and parents to apply for and review EHCPs.  She especially enjoys developing self-confidence and self-advocacy in children and young people. Kathryn loves books, cats and nature and spending time with her young children.

Laura Yarnall

Laura joined the team in 2014 after graduating from City University. Laura works across 2 primary schools, including the school that she herself attended as a child! Despite the hectic schedule Laura is always cool, calm and collected. Laura particularly enjoys supporting children with Developmental Language Disorder and is a specialist in this area. Laura is another creative member of the team who always has a craft project on the go.

Charmaine Bill

Charmaine joined the team in October 2015. Charmaine is a highly creative member of the team and her sessions with the children are always fun and guaranteed to have the best resources – often made by Charmaine. As well as being an experienced therapist, Charmaine is also a children’s author and recently published her book ’All the Rage’.

Dolores Eagling

Dolores joined the Learning Talking team in September 2019 after graduating from the speech and language therapy MSC at City University. During her studies, Dolores completed a masters project focusing on the views and experiences of recipients of group social support intervention for people with aphasia. For this project Dolores received the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia national annual student prize.

Before training as a speech and language therapist, Dolores worked in the UK and internationally teaching English as a foreign language to both adults and children.

Alexandra Rennie

Alexandra joined Learning Talking in 2019 on graduating with an MSc in Speech and Language sciences from UCL. Alexandra has a wealth of experience in supporting children and young people with SLCN. She is a specialist in the autism field and has a fantastic approach to providing holistic support to families. The rest of the team value her experience and often ask for her advice knowing that she will always have a gem of wisdom to share.

Charlotte Gower

Charlotte joined the team in January 2020. After several years working in special schools and teaching abroad she completed her MSc in Speech and Language Sciences at UCL. Charlotte specialises in working with deaf students and currently works in the deaf support department of a secondary school. Beyond her role with Learning Talking, Charlotte specialises in working with clients who have experienced brain injury, and she has a specialist in AAC.

Susanna Rowlands

Susanna joined Learning Talking in September 2020 with a Masters in Speech and Language Therapy and BSc in Psychology and Linguistics. Susanna works across four schools, two mainstream primary and two secondaries. She works collaboratively with students, parents/carers, school staff and other professionals, using evidence-based practice to deliver assessment, intervention, and training. Susanna is highly motivated, creative, and dedicated – and has a longstanding obsession with nice stationery. She also volunteers with the charity organisation Stamma.

Eliza Foster

Eliza joined the team in December 2020 after graduating from the Msc in speech and language therapy at City University. Eliza spent time working in education settings before training to be a speech and language therapist. She is a proficient French speaker having spent time living in Paris.

Sumeiya Hussain

Sumeiya joined the team in January 2021 after graduating from the MSC in speech and language therapy at City University. Sumeiya has an interest in working with children with autism. Sumeiya is a creative and friendly team member. Sumeiya is bilingual and speaks Sylheti as well as English.

Nerys Bourke

Nerys joined the team in January 2021 after graduating from the MSC in speech and language therapy at City University. Nerys has a wealth of experience in working with children and young people, especially those in the early years as Nerys previously worked in a nursery school for 10 years.

Amy Duck

Amy joined the team in April 2021. Amy is a highly experienced speech and language therapist with many years’ experiences in the NHS. Amy supports primary and secondary age students to become confident, successful communicators and has special skills supporting young people to plan and think about their futures. She has been fundamental in the development of a highly skilled Secondary School team at Learning Talking. Amy enjoys spending time with her family in her spare time.

Colette Milward

Colette graduated with an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy from City University London in 2021 and joined the team in September 2021. She enjoys working with multilingual children and children with Developmental Language Disorder and is an advocate for early intervention and timely diagnosis. She is bilingual in French and English, and fluent in Italian. Colette has a family of keen cyclists and spends a lot of time travelling in the UK and abroad supporting youth cycling teams.

Annie Gite

Annie rejoined the team in April 2022 after spending several years out of the profession concentrating on being at home with her two boys. It has been fabulous to have Annie back on board. She is a great therapist and brings heaps of positive energy to the team.

Marcus Truin- Hadrill

Marcus joined the team in January 2023. He joined us following time gaining valuable experience in an NHS post in mainstream Primary and Secondary schools. He trained as a SaLT on the master’s at City University of London, graduating in 2021.

Marcus is a talented musician who enjoys playing guitar and performing with his band.

Beth Higgins

Beth joined the team in September 2023. Beth had a student placement with the team and we were delighted when she decided to join us. Beth currently works in 4 primary schools and has brought a wealth of enthusiasm to the role.

Ella Thorne

Ella joined the team in September 2023, after transferring from a role working with adults with acquired neurological conditions impacting communication and swallowing. Ella juggles her working life with looking after her young daughter and squeezing in time to enjoy her hobby of climbing.

Chingwa Mabika

Chingwa joined the team in September 2023. Chingwa is currently working as an assistant speech and language therapist within 2 large secondary schools. Chingwa is enrolled in the University of Essex SaLT Degree apprenticeship. She is Learning Talking’s first apprentice, and we are very excited to have her onboard.

Natashka Hayles – Downes

Natashka joined the team in March 2024 and did an excellent job working alongside therapists in several primary schools as an assistant speech and language therapist. Natshka is now following in Chingwa’s footsteps on the degree apprentice programme (October 2024).

Gabrielle Grandison

Gabby joined the team in September 2024 as an assistant speech and language therapist. Gabby is passionate about working with children and young people to support their communication. She studied at UCL and has a Msci in Psychology and Language Sciences.

Bethany Edwards

Bethany is the team’s newest member. She graduated from the speech and language therapy masters programme at City in the summer of 2024 and followed this up with time spent travelling in Australia. She joined Learning Talking in October 2024.