Mary Kiteou

My name is Mary and I am delighted to introduce myself to you as the in-house speech and language therapist within the inclusion department at GEMS FirstPoint school, under the new and exciting GEMS LINK initiative. This initiative supports children with speech, language and communication needs holistically in the school setting. I hail from London, where I was born and raised, though I am of Cypriot heritage. Following a career in teaching English, I retrained as a speech and language therapist in 2018, with an MSc with merit from University College, London. On graduating, I worked in children and young people’s speech and language therapy services at the leading NHS foundation trusts in London, across clinics, health centres, children’s centres and schools. Since moving to Dubai in 2021, I have been working at GEMS FirstPoint School, among other schools, supporting children with specialist intervention programmes via external services. 

I have experience working with children with a wide range of needs, including autism spectrum disorders, social communication difficulties, developmental language disorder, developmental speech disorders, motor speech disorders, stammering and speech and/or language delays. To support my work, I have been trained in using a variety of interventions and communication supports, such as Makaton, SMile therapy, Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing and Attention Autism. I have consistently worked closely alongside other healthcare professionals to team around the child as per their profile and needs. I am passionate about following both current and evidence-based practice to impact change in the children I see in meaningful, child-led and interactive ways, including Lego therapy, adult-child interaction therapy and social and emotional intervention programmes. 

My door is always open to speak to parents about speech and language development, concerns or to answer any questions. If you would like to know more about speech and language therapy or if you would like to have your child screened please contact me: [email protected].