Emilia is a Specialist Occupational Therapy Assistant with over 20 years of experience supporting children and families. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Childhood and Youth Studies and has dedicated her career to child development and SEN support. After taking time out to raise her own children, Emilia returned to work with a focused commitment to gaining specialist, hands-on experience in paediatric therapies.

A certified DIR®/Floortime™ practitioner, Emilia places relationship, co-regulation and each child’s individual differences at the heart of her work. She delivers DIR-Floortime sessions at CHAMP, alongside handwriting intervention groups, therapy holiday groups, and individualised sensory-motor programmes that strengthen the foundations needed for confident participation and written expression.

Over the past four years in an autism base, Emilia has gained extensive multidisciplinary experience, working closely with Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, teachers, support staff and families. She has completed specialist trainings including Attention Autism and PECS; however, in keeping with neurodiversity-affirming approaches, she uses PECS knowledge primarily to inform visual communication supports, prioritising modelling and responsive communication over physical prompting unless required for motor-access reasons. She also draws on a wide range of total-communication tools, including Makaton, Talking Tins, symbol supports and AAC devices.

Emilia also supports small-group feeding therapy sessions within the autism base under the guidance of specialist OTs, helping children explore food in a supportive, low-pressure environment while involving parents and staff to ensure consistency across contexts.

Outside of work, Emilia enjoys spending time with her family, cycling, reading, cooking and hosting dinner parties for friends and loved ones.