Floortime in Schools

Linda Cervenka is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist and works primarily with children and adolescence with autistic spectrum and related disorders utilizing DIR and development language models. She has a private practice in LaGrange, Illinois. Linda is also co-founder of Soaring Eagle Academy, an Illinois State Board of Education approved school serving students 5 through 21 years of age with autism and related disorders. Within the academy, Linda serves as an Expert Clinician, supporting staff and students in learning and growing within the DIR and Developmental Language Model. Linda received her Bachelor’s Degree from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL and her Master’s Degree in Communicative Disorders from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has worked for 30 years with children with special needs, in home based and clinic based therapeutic services and public and private schools providing consultation, training and support for children and families. Linda is a Senior Faculty member of Profectum and has presented nationally on the topic of developmental approaches to intervention for children.

Michele is a licensed speech and language pathologist, who works primarily with children diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. She has been in private practice since 1997 and worked in an early childhood school setting prior to that. Michele consults in many public school districts in Illinois and is one of three founders of a private school (Soaring Eagle Academy) for children with special needs that uses developmental language intervention and incorporates DIR® into its academic programming. Soaring Eagle Academy provides integrated programming to meet each child’s unique needs. Michele supports the curriculum development and implementation at Soaring Eagle Academy. Michele is a trainer and faculty for Profectum, an organization that uses the DIR® model as a framework for supporting children and families. Michele has a master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1995). She also holds an undergraduate degree in communicative disorders from University of the Pacific in Stockton, California (1993). Michele is also a mother of three children and has learned the most about development and language acquisition through her interactions and experience as a parent.