Heather MacKenzie

Heather MacKenzie, Ph.D., is a speech-language pathologist and educator who has spent a large part of her career developing and implementing approaches for enhancing learning in children with special needs. She has a special interest in understanding the enigma of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A major focus of her work with children has been on understanding them and how they approach learning and using this knowledge to optimize their development.

She has developed the Learning Preferences and Strengths model designed to determine each child's learning preferences and strengths and then 'harness' them to improve the child's learning and development. Heather established a preschool program for children with ASD based on this model. The program used a shared storybook reading approach which was both well-received and highly productive for the children and their families.

Heather has provided workshops and presentations all over North America and in the U.K. Her workshop on shared storybook reading at the Chicago ASHA convention in 2008 was very positively received.

Heather has published two books since 2008. The first, Reaching and Teaching the Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, concentrates on planning and implementing the Learning Preferences and Strengths model with children with ASD. The second, One Story at a Time, is about how to plan, implement and evaluate shared storybook-based intervention with children. She has two more books in progress; one on how to determine and engage learning preferences and strengths in children with special needs and one on developing mindfulness in children with ASD and related conditions.