I’ve been in practice for 25 years. I started my career working in New Brunswick with adults with neurogenic and other communication disorders (ex. Stroke, Stuttering, Voice, Dementia) and went on to work with school-aged children in the school system. I moved to Ontario in 1993 where I got all of my paediatric experience working at the Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario and Thames Valley Children’s Centre. Over a period of 5 years I worked with children with Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, Feeding and Swallowing disorders and Augmentative and Alternative Communication needs.

I moved back to Halifax in 1998 with my husband when we started a family. It was then that I began working in private practice as I only wanted to work part-time. I worked at the Atlantic Clinic for Communication Disorders for 5 years before starting up a sole practice at the Public Gardens Medical Clinic. In 2014, I moved my practice to the Halifax Professional Centre and founded Cindy Wheeler Speech & Language Services, where I am presently located.

I pride myself on my ability to relate to children and adults of all ages regardless of their type or severity of speech and language problem. I enjoy doing “diagnostic therapy” and figuring out what clients strengths and weaknesses are as well as what motivates them to communicate.

Most of my expertise is in the area of language disorders; assessing and forming treatment goals to address functional communication with children on the Autism Spectrum. I often see children before they are diagnosed with ASD and have typically been a part of the diagnostic process by communicating with physicians, the IWK Autism team and Psychologists. I am familiar with Pivotal Response Treatment and Picture Exchange Communication System and use these methods regularly. I also have a variety of tools for working on Social Communication skills.

I have been quite successful working with parents of younger children (as early as 18 months) who are late to talk and coaching them on how to change their interaction strategies to facilitate language. I treat many children with articulation and phonological delays, apraxia of speech and phonological awareness/reading delays. My approach with children who stutter is an eclectic one, with a combination of fluency shaping and behavioural intervention as well parent counselling. I have done a fair bit of self-study on anxiety disorders and have incorporated this knowledge in to my practice using breathing and mindfulness techniques as well as stepladders to conquer fearful communication situations.

I am bilingual in French and English and have worked in both languages. Since my assessment tools are mostly English, I rely on language sample analysis for basic speech and language assessments in French pre-schoolers. For older school-aged French speaking clients I typically recommend assessment by a Francophone SLP.

I don’t often subscribe to “in-the-can” treatment programs. Instead I like to use a variety of tools and resources, coupled with my experience to form an individualized plan for my clients.

I enjoy meeting and getting to know new people and get my energy from interacting and helping them. I look forward to the opportunity to help you!