About Olga Komadina

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Olga Komadina is a Speech Pathologist with over 20 years of experience in paediatric speech pathology and the founder of Olga Komadina Apraxia Therapy. Her clinical expertise and deep passion lie in treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)—a rare, lifelong motor speech disorder that requires highly specialised therapy.

In 2010, Olga received one week of intensive, individualised training with David Hammer, a leading expert in CAS and then Director of Professional Development at Apraxia Kids (USA). This mentoring took place during real client sessions in a specialist CAS clinic and laid a strong foundation for her advanced clinical insight. David Hammer was instrumental in establishing the Apraxia Bootcamp, a highly regarded training program that recognises speech pathologists with specialised clinical expertise in CAS. Learning directly from him in a one-on-one setting shaped Olga’s approach to therapy and advocacy and continues to inform her work today.

Earlier in her career, Olga also spent two weeks observing expert CAS clinicians at Max’s House, a renowned early intervention clinic, which inspired her to eventually found her own CAS-only private practice.

Olga worked for many years at Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), where she provided support to autistic children with complex communication needs, including dual diagnoses of CAS and autism. This experience helped her develop a neuroaffirming approach to CAS therapy that honours each child's strengths, preferences, and sensory profile while still delivering intensive motor speech intervention.

In 2025, Olga completed the Australian CAS Bootcamp, an intensive four-day training led by Dr Maryane Gomez, with presenters including Professor Patricia McCabe and other members of the University of Sydney's motor speech research team. This added another layer of research-informed clinical rigour to her already extensive experience.

Olga is listed in the Apraxia Kids SLP Directory, an international resource recognising speech-language pathologists with the experience supporting children with CAS. This listing acknowledges both her theoretical knowledge and extensive hands-on clinical work in the field. She is committed to improving early identification, access to therapy, and national recognition for CAS across Australia.

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Author of The Apraxia CAS Therapy Handbook: Live Examples – Detailed Strategies

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Olga is the author of The Apraxia CAS Therapy Handbook, a 40+ page practical guide that brings together over two decades of experience in one clear, clinically grounded resource. This handbook connects the dots between research, best practice, and what actually works in therapy rooms across Australia.

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What the handbook covers:

• How CAS is assessed and identified

• Syllable shape development and selecting target words

• Techniques to move from effortful to automatic speech

• Neuroaffirming strategies for children with both CAS and autism

• Visual cueing, motivation, and sentence-level supports

• Real-life therapy videos that match each strategy

• Colour-coded word lists, vowel charts, cue visuals, and progress tracking tools

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This is not just a manual—it’s a complete framework for clinicians who want to deliver confident, evidence-based CAS therapy without the cost and overwhelm of large online courses. The eBook includes free updates as Olga continues to refine her approach and add new therapy videos and tools over time.

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Clinical Practice and Mentorship

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Today, Olga runs a busy, high-impact practice delivering 22 individual CAS therapy sessions per week. Her clients include local face-to-face families, telehealth clients across Australia, and some international families seeking specialist guidance. She also provides 1:1 supervision to over 12 speech pathologists, alongside group supervision and in-service training for clinics throughout Australia.

Through her work, Olga continues to bridge the gap between evidence-based practice and real-world application—offering tools, mentoring, and clinical insight that many speech pathologists never have the chance to access through traditional professional development alone.

Olga is also deeply committed to advocacy for children with CAS, regularly contributing to national awareness campaigns, policy submissions, and media features that elevate the voices of families and professionals working within this space.

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Treatment Approach

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Olga has adopted an eclectic approach to treating children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech, incorporating Dynamic Tactile and Temporal Cueing (DTTC), the Kaufman approach (KSPT), Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT), and ReST therapy (for later stages working on prosody).

Olga has helped many 2–3 year olds with CAS—some of whom were only able to say 4–5 words or approximations at the start of therapy—progress to speaking in clear sentences after a few months of intensive therapy.

She works collaboratively with other professionals (e.g., Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Paediatricians, Teachers) to achieve the best possible outcomes.

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Due to the high demand for Olga’s services…

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…1:1 therapy spots are limited and rarely become available. Because CAS therapy typically requires 2–3 sessions per week over 2–3 years, Olga has developed a group-based parent support model to ensure families can begin high-quality therapy with guidance right away—without waiting for a one-on-one spot.

This support includes:

• 💬 Monthly group Q&A sessions

• 🎥 Video modules you can watch at your own pace

• 👩‍👧‍👦 A private Facebook group

• 📄 A shared working document to track your child’s word list and therapy strategies

• 📞 On-call support via video messages, email, text, and short phone consults

This model is based on the proven success of families around Australia who have already worked with Olga via telehealth. Parents were taught by Olga—and in turn, successfully taught their children. Many of these children progressed from saying no clear words to speaking in short, clear phrases and early sentences.

📘 To further support both parents and speech pathologists, Olga has also published a CAS Handbook, available for purchase. This guide (potentially claimable under NDIS core funding) provides:

• A clear therapy roadmap

• Real video examples

• Strategies that can be referred to again and again

Olga is also the founder of Australia’s first CAS mentoring group for speech pathologists, helping therapists confidently deliver CAS therapy to children in their own local communities.

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What we offer

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