We had the good fortune of connecting with Shaina Aktan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shaina, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
My business called Shaina Speaks Therapy & Coaching, Inc. is a private practice providing speech therapy intervention and related services through home health and our clinic serving San Diego County. We are a dynamic team of passionate, expert, and compassionate professionals that work to provide evidence based speech therapy treatment while cultivating meaningful relationships with our clients and their families. We empower our families and caregivers to embrace intervention in their daily routines and natural environments for life changing moments and long lasting growth. Not only are we speech therapists, we are advocates, coaches, mentors, and an integral part of the care team.

As speech therapists, our daily work involves helping our clients through direct therapy and simultaneous coaching for our clients’ parents and caregivers. As we strive to make lasting growth with our clients, we inherently develop a sense of community and belonging. Shaina Speaks Therapy & Coaching, Inc. takes this a step further by offering additional services to parents, a free parent community support group, group classes and more. Our mission is to build a community for parents, families, and caregivers to collaborate, support and celebrate communication milestones and successes!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Over the past 10 years, I have developed a passion for implementing a relationship based approach with clients such as the DIR Floortime® approach which involves respecting and honoring an individual’s whole self. It also includes following neurodiversity affirming practices. I have taken my passion a step further by advocating for Autistic and neurodivergent individuals through my daily work as a therapist and coach, social networks, and more recently as a boss. As the Neurodiversity Affirming Model gains more evidence based research, it is my hope that more relationship based models and frameworks will become utilized and reimbursable for services nationwide.
Additionally, I have found myself advocating for Speech Language Pathologist Assistants (SLPAs) and students in the field of Communicative Sciences and Disorders as the path to becoming a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) can be confusing and overwhelming. I help undergraduate students and aspiring SLPAs and SLPs nationwide on a daily basis learn the steps to licensure in the state in which they reside. This started from a place of passion and grew into a steady side job!

Lastly, now as a private practice owner, I am finding myself brainstorming and developing new ideas of ways to build a meaningful community for our clients’ parents, families, and caregivers. This may look like group events in our clinic space hosted by myself, our therapist, or even parents themselves! I am excited to see what the future has in store for Shaina Speaks Therapy & Coaching, Inc. 🤗

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

Barbusa in Little Italy for a delicious Italian meal!

El Pescador Fish Market in La Jolla for a swordfish sandwich – yum!

Tahona Bar in Old Town for Mezcal Tasting.

Windansea Beach for a sunset picnic.

Coronado Ferry Landing for a picture against the San Diego skyline 🙂

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

BizChix Podcast by Natalie Eckdahl for empowering me to pursue + manifest my entrepreneurial dreams.

Jennifer Anderson, M.S. CCC-SLP for mentoring me along the way to pursuing my business endeavor.

Sound Therapies, Inc. for inspiring me to develop a professional and dynamic team of speech therapists.

The Path to Private Practice by Jena H. Castro-Casbon, M.S. CCC-SLP for clearing up any uncertainties I had!

Last but not least, my husband, Ozan Aktan, for always believing in me!

Website: https://www.shainaspeaks.com/

Instagram: @shainaspeaks

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaina-aktan/

Image Credits
Canva

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