About Therese

Melbourne Speech Pathologist Therese Ryan has spent over 25 years helping thousands of children and adults with high functioning autism to build strong, successful relationships with friends, family and work colleagues and enhance their enjoyment of everyday life.

Basic social skills are critical to successfully negotiating relationships both personally and professionally. Many are lucky enough to take these critical abilities for granted, and Therese understands how difficult it can be to teach loved ones these vital skills. Speech Pathologists are highly trained, however, and Therese uses her experience with the ‘Social Thinking’ technique  to guide clients and their families through the maze of social learning.

Autism and Social Thinking are dynamic areas of research. Social Thinking is a social skills curriculum that was developed by Michelle Garcia Winner. Therese is a graduate of the highly sought after Mentor Training Program and she regularly attends workshops and conferences on Social Thinking both in America and Australia so she can implement the latest skills and techniques with her clients.

Therese is also a meditation and yoga teacher, trained in a relaxation technique called iRest Yoga Nidra. iRest is proven to be very effective in managing anxiety. Therese uses iRest to help children and adults understand and regulate their emotions, navigate the social world and manage the stress that social difficulties can create in their lives.

“I want my clients to start with growing their own thinking skills by using all available information so that they can understand how others in their social world think and make social choices that have more successful social outcomes. Having a framework for people to draw on is key. When people with high functioning autism understand social thinking they can make choices that will lead to happier social outcomes not only for them, but for those around them. I want children to grow to be the best adults that we can help them to be. I do that by teaching them the skills necessary to navigate changing social conditions and move into the adult world.”