Waheeda Essop is an occupational therapist who qualified in 1998 at the University of Pretoria. She has worked predominantly in the medico legal field but has always been passionate about paediatrics, in stimulating children to actualise their potential. She has enjoyed conducting interactive workshops for parents and teachers over the years and ran the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Centre, a multi-disciplinary therapy centre, in Benoni.

With the pandemic of Covid-19, her medico legal work came to a halt. And in the heart of lockdown, the ECI Store was born. An online store hosting a range of quality developmental toys. It caters for parents, teachers and therapists and also includes interesting blog articles and a customised milestone checklist page with age-appropriate activities

With the ECI Store and her familiarity with therapy tests, ECI then became a distributor for Western Psychological Services, or WPS Publishers in the US. With news of the Tests of Dyslexia release in 2024 and reviewing the test, Waheeda gave her sample TOD battery to a remedial school and other therapists in Johannesburg. With their positive feedback and considering the challenges of dyslexia testing, she decided to host a workshop on Dyslexia, aimed at its acute assessment, diagnosis and intervention. With Dyslexia being multi-facetted, and not a 1-therapist disorder, she chose the topic of a transdisciplinary approach, and hence this workshop was put together!

Dr Bongi is a developmental paediatrician and the Head of Developmental Paediatrics at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. She is a qualified Developmental Paediatrician who practises from a neurodiversity-affirming, strengths-based approach to child development.

Dr Mbatha graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB). She obtained her Diploma in Child Health in 2008 and completed specialist training in Paediatrics through the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa in 2013. She subsequently completed her subspecialist certification in Developmental Paediatrics in 2019.

Dr Mbatha is actively involved in clinical research and has authored eight peer-reviewed publications in reputable medical journals, including one as first author and two as senior author. She is a passionate advocate for children with diverse developmental profiles and is committed to improving awareness, access to care, and early identification of developmental conditions.

She regularly participates in public engagement initiatives, including radio interviews and online educational platforms, and has featured in several YouTube podcasts aimed at increasing public understanding of developmental and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Dr Mbatha is deeply committed to supporting children with different abilities to achieve their full potential. Outside of her professional work, she is a devoted wife and mother of two boys and enjoys spending time with her family and hiking.

Larise  is an Educational Psychologist and the owner of Blossoming Hearts Inc., based in Benoni. She is often referred to and better known as the “Heart Aunty,” reflecting her gentle and child-centred approach. Larise works primarily in the area of psycho-educational assessments and therapy, focusing on understanding children’s learning profiles, including their strengths and areas of difficulty. Her work commonly includes assessments related to school readiness, learning difficulties, emotional challenges, and neurodevelopmental conditions. She collaborates with families, educators, and other professionals to ensure that assessment findings and therapeutic interventions are clearly understood and can be used to support each child’s development in a practical and meaningful way.

Kieren is a speech-language pathologist with 19 years of experience working across both private practice and remedial school settings. She collaborates closely within multidisciplinary teams to support children with diverse learning and communication needs.

Her areas of special interest include articulation, auditory processing, dyslexia, and cognitive education. She has completed extensive training in dyslexia and is also trained in Snoezelen, advanced nervous system regulation, and PROMPT therapy.

In addition, Kieren Mione is certified in the Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA) approach and currently leads the implementation of cognitive education within her school, where she is passionate about helping learners develop stronger thinking skills and greater independence

Leigh is an experienced Occupational Therapist with a strong focus on paediatrics and neurodevelopment. She obtained her BSc in Occupational Therapy from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2008 and has since worked across a wide range of settings, including government hospitals, private practice clinics, special needs schools, mainstream education, and the Montessori system.

Leigh is currently the Head of Therapy at a remedial school in Johannesburg, where she leads a multidisciplinary team in supporting children with barriers to learning. Her work focuses particularly on children with dyslexia, language-based learning difficulties, and processing challenges, with an emphasis on functional, child-centred intervention within the school environment.

She holds an MSc Med in Child Neurodevelopment, reflecting her commitment to evidence-based practice and advanced clinical expertise. Her work is deeply rooted in a passion for early childhood development and sensory integration, with extensive experience supporting neurodivergent children and their families.

Leigh is trained in Snoezelen therapy and Interactive Metronome, and integrates these approaches into her therapeutic work where appropriate. She is dedicated to creating supportive, inclusive environments that enable children to thrive, and places strong emphasis on collaboration within multidisciplinary teams, as well as with families and educators.

Natasha qualified at The University of Durban Westville now known as UKZN , many many  years ago, and has been in private practice ever since.

She practiced traditional optometry until she began exploring alternate avenues when her own children experienced academic and social fallouts that fell into so many grey areas for her. Every rabbit hole she went down, she surfaced with a new certification and a newfound awareness, until her colleague and close university friend, who was also exploring avenues within Optometry, enlightened her that she was exploring a field called Behavioural Optometry!

With a framework in place, she began making sense of the pieces of the puzzle, and the critical value Vision and the Visual Pathway play in the development of a person.

She holds a B. Optometry, a Master’s in Business, and Advanced Course in Vision Therapy, she is Dyslexia Certified, Reading Certified, Primitive Reflex Certified, and has studied extensively through the Optometric Extension Programme Foundation: namely: Art & Science, Vision Therapy 1,2 & 3 as well as being Sports Vision Certified.