Vanessa O’Callaghan, MA, CCC-SLP

Vanessa P. O’Callaghan, CCC-SLP, is a speech and language pathologist in the Autism Center and Learning and Development Center at the Child Mind Institute. She works with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social communication disorder, speech sound impairments, childhood apraxia of speech, language delay, receptive and expressive language disorders, executive functioning deficits, learning disabilities, and ADHD. When conducting speech and language evaluations, Vanessa utilizes a combination of standardized and informal measures of assessment to characterize each child’s skillset and learning potential, as well as how their struggles affect their overall development. She prioritizes working closely with the children and families she is working with to develop a diagnostic conceptualization and a specific treatment plan for each child.

Vanessa is trained in behavioral interventions, including Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) and Project ImPACT. She is also trained in specific language and social interventions, such as Social Thinking™ and the More Than Words ® program by The Hanen Centre. Additionally, Vanessa is skilled in identifying and understanding a common discrepancy between a child’s academic success and their social development.

Prior to joining the Child Mind Institute, Vanessa conducted evaluations and treatments at Dramatic Pragmatics, a speech, language, and social development center. During her tenure at this position, Vanessa specifically trained in pragmatic language diagnostics and intervention as she treated children and young adults in individual and group settings. At this practice, she had extensive experience with the “Social Thinking” curriculum, which targets self-regulation, social-emotional learning, executive functioning, perspective-taking and social problem-solving.

In addition to her intervention work at the Child Mind Institute, Vanessa is a part of the Early Childhood Evaluation team in the Autism Center, where she identifies young children struggling with their speech and language acquisition and social communication. She also collaborates on comprehensive evaluations

within the Learning and Development Center to help characterize language and language-based learning for children and adolescents with learning challenges.

• Speech Language Pathologist, Dramatic Pragmatics Speech and Language Center
• Consultant, Teachers College, Developing Language and Literacy Lab
• Training
• Clinical Fellow, Dramatic Pragmatics Speech and Language Center
• Graduate Intern, P.S. X721 Stephen McSweeny School, District 75
• Graduate Intern, White Plains Hospital

• MA, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Iona College
• BA, Health Sciences, Gettysburg College

• Iona College Communication Sciences and Disorders Department Medal for Academic Success and Clinical Achievement