Shereen Idiculla
Director of Clinical Services at Playstreet
Shereen Idiculla
Director of Clinical Services at Playstreet
Shereen Idicullais a passionate Speech and Language Therapist who has been working for over 15 years with children with special needs. She finished her Bachelors and Masters from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore, worked in Singapore for over 2 years and then started work in Bangalore in 2009. She has worked with Head Start Montessori School, F.A.M.E India and is now the Clinical Director of PlayStreet Specially Abled Educare Trust in Bangalore.
As a speech and language therapist, Shereen started with the traditional approaches to stimulating language in children and realised that there was something missing; what worked for one child did not work for another. A learning journey started where she explored different approaches by learning or getting certified in various techniques. One thing led to another and currently Shereen is a Hanen Certified Speech and Language Therapist for the More Than Words® and It Takes Two To Talk® Programs as well as a Level 2 Autism Movement Therapist. She has been trained on the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), PROMPT Technique, Brain Gym and Sensory Integration (from the University of California). She is an advanced Oral Placement Therapist and is currently the only therapist in India who has completed her Level 4 certification training in the same. She works with children with Childhood Language Disorders, Autism, Apraxia of Speech, Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, etc.
She has co-created an AAC (Alternative & Augmentative Communication) program called the PlayTalk Program that is used with the free android based AAC software (app) called PlayTalk, developed by PlayStreet. She has also helped in the development of an online tool called Goal Track to track and measure the progress of clients in various areas of development, making it easier to create assessment reports, individualized education plans and progress reports for any client.
Shereen started working on the Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) Program with children in 2010 and has seen a lot of success in helping children with oral sensory and motor issues get through their food sensitivities, move from being non-verbal to producing sounds, and be able to develop appropriate feeding skills. By combining Autism Movement Therapy, the Hanen approaches and using PlayTalk (AAC) to enhance communication, Shereen has been able to see a lot of difference in the children she has worked with. She strongly believes in parent empowerment and conducts trainings at her centre, in collaboration with other organizations as well as online to help parents who are in other states or in other countries
EXPERIENCE
PLAYSTREET SPECIALLY ABLED EDUCARE TRUST, BANGALORE
2013 - PRESENT
Trustee & Director of Clinical Services
KIDSTREET PRESCHOOL, BANGALORE
2016 - PRESENT
Director of Clinical Services
F.A.M.E INDIA, BANGALORE
2009 - 2016
Worked as a part-time Speech Therapist and then as a
Consultant
HEADSTART MONTESSORI SCHOOL, BANGALORE
2009 - 2011
Worked as a Consultant Speech Therapist
ST. CLARE SCHOOL FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION,
SINGAPORE
JAN – DEC 2008
Worked as a Consultant Speech Therapist
ASIAN WOMENS WELFARE ASSOCIATION SCHOOL,
SINGAPORE
2005 - 2007
Worked as a Speech and Language Therapist
EDUCATION
MASTERS (SPEECH AND HEARING)
All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, 2004
BACHELORS (SPEECH AND HEARING)
All India Institute of Speech & Hearing, 2002
PECS LEVEL 1
Pyramid Education Consultants, Singapore, 2006
TEACHING CRITICAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Pyramid Education Consultants, Singapore, 2007
INTEGRATED TREATMENT OF FEEDING, SPEECH, AND
MOUTH FUNCTION IN PEDIATRICS
Diane Bahr, Singapore, 2007
INTRODUCTION TO PROMPT
The PROMPT Institute, Singapore, 2008
BRAIN GYM – FUN AND MOTIVATION FOR
LEARNING
Tan Li-Anne, Singapore, 2009
STURCTURED USE OF MUSIC & MOVEMENT TO
ENHANCE SPEECH, LANGAUGE AND LEARNING
Dr. Beverly Joffe, Singapore, 2009
HANEN CERTIFIED FOR IT TAKES TWO TO TALK®
PROGRAM
Cindy Smith, Singapore, 2010
A THREE-PART TREATMENT PLAN FOR ORAL
PLACEMENT THERAPY
Sara Rosenfeld Johnson, 2010
FEEDING THERAPY: A SENSORY MOTOR APPROACH
Lori Overland, 2010
SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDER
Carol Kranowitz, Bangalore, 2011
THE OTHER END OF AUTISM SPECTRUM
Timothy Kowalski, Bangalore, 2011
ORAL PLACEMENT THERAPY – ASSESSMENT AND
PROGRAM PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Renee Roy Hill, 2011
HANEN CERTIFIED FOR MORE THAN WORDS®
PROGRAM
Anne McDade, Bangalore, 2013
SENSORY PROCESSING DISORDERS: INTERVENTIONS
TO IMPROVE SENSORY BEHAVIOUR AND FUNCTION
Loganathan Guruswamy, Bangalore, 2013
FINDING THE MISSING PIECES OF THE AUTISM
PUZZLE
Dr. Steve Gutstein, Bangalore, 2015
IRLEN SYNDROME AWARENESS WORKSHOP
Tehnaz Ragi, Bangalore, 2016
THE SENSORY INTEGRATION PERSPECTIVE – COURSE
1 OF THE SENSORY INTEGRATION PROGRAM
Dr. Erna Blanche, University of California, Hyderabad, 2016
THE SENSORY INTEGRATION PERSPECTIVE – COURSE
4 OF THE SENSORY INTEGRATION PROGRAM
Dr. Stefanie Bodison, University of California, Hyderabad, 2016
ORAL PLACEMENT THERAPY – LEVEL 3
Renee Roy Hill, Puerto Rico, 2016
A SENSORY MOTOR APPROACH TO APRAXIA OF
SPEECHA AND RELATED MOTOR SPEECH DISORDERS
Renee Roy Hill, 2017
WORKSHOPS/TRAININGS CONDUCTED
MORE THAN WORDS® PROGRAM
5 trainings from 2014-2016, PlayStreet Specially Abled Educare
Trust
PLAYTALK – A COMPREHENSIVE AAC PROGRAM
Hope – The Early Intervention Centre, January 2017
ORAL SENSORY AND MOTOR STIMULATION
National Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
Kerala, June 2017