Child Development Costa del Sol
Meet the team
Aynsley Carter
Director and Head of Occupational Therapy
Aynsley is a qualified Occupational Therapist who has supported Shine from the beginning. She completed her studies, walking away with a Masters Level, at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand
Aynsley has over 10 years experience working within multiple settings including; hospitals, schools, home-based, community along with private and public child development centres across several countries; New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong and currently Spain. Her expertise involves assisting children/students with sensory integration dysfunction, gross motor, fine motor, visual perceptual difficulties and executive functioning skills. Her aim is to assist children/students to reach their full potential across all environments in life; home, school and community.
Aynsley values professional development and has completed courses within Play Therapy Foundation, DIY Floortime, Brain Gym, Rhythmic Movement Training, SIPT ( Sensory Integration Training), Handwriting without Tears, Therapeutic Listening, Yoga Teacher Training and continues to participate in Neuro-Development courses.
Aynsley dedicates her free time towards running in the mountains training for Ultra races and building a sustainable container home with her overly patient husband and 3 adorable cats.
She is a member of the Spanish Association of Occupational Therapy, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, Sensory Integration Network based out of the U.K. and the Hong Kong Association of Occupational Therapy.
What gets Aynsley out of bed everyday to work is experiencing and feeling the joy children express when they see themselves achieving their goals, pure bliss.
Katie Smith
Director and Head of Speech and Language Therapy
Katie Smith, is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, experienced in assessment and therapy intervention for all children’s speech, language and communication needs. She has been working in Spain since 2017 and has been with Shine from the beginning. Prior to that, she spent 10 years working in the NHS and privately with children with special and additional needs in the UK.
Katie graduated from University College London with a B.A. in Linguistics and subsequently an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy. She is a proud member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, UK. She is also registered with the HCPC, UK. Katie continually completes professional development courses. For example, Hanen, PCI, Makaton, PECS, and many more.
In her spare time, Katie enjoys home time with her crazy household of 3 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats and (last but not least!) husband. Every opportunity we get we like to travel. Having grown up in Hong Kong we love to experience new things.
Katie believes in an evidence based, child centred approach with fun filled and inclusive therapy. She is dedicated to obtaining the best practice for the child, so we can give our clients the maximum opportunity to achieve their developmental and educational goals.
Kate Cassidy
Shine Occupational Therapist
Kate is a qualified Occupational Therapist from Manchester, U.K, completing her BSc degree in occupational therapy at York St John University. She has worked as a rotational therapist in the NHS for nearly ten years, with experience in a wide range of areas including neurosurgery and neuro rehabilitation, major trauma and paediatrics. Kate is registered with the HCPC and is a member of the British Association of Occupational Therapy.
​
In 2018, Kate took a career break to work in Barcelona, teaching English to children. From this experience, she recognised that her passion was to work with and support children.
​
In her spare time, Kate enjoys travelling, walking, salsa dancing and spending quality time with family and friends.
Cecelia Cienska
Speech & Language Therapist
Cecelia is a qualified Speech and Language Therapist from Canada. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Zoology and then went on to graduate with a Master in Health Science in Speech-Language Therapy. She is a member of the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA). Cecelia is a life-long learner, always with a course on the go, such as Hanen, Oral-Facial Myology, Orton-Gillingham and Pathways to Proficient Reading.
With her husband who is a foreign correspondent, Cecelia’s life is full of travel. She has lived in Canada, the United States and Poland, and worked in hospitals, rehab centers, and schools. During her 13 years working at the American School of Warsaw, she worked as the elementary speech-language pathologist and later as Director of Learning Support PreK3-Grade 12. There she honed her skills in articulation, motor speech difficulties and reading development as well as collaboration and team building. She firmly believes that parents, therapists and teachers must work together as a team to see the whole child and support his or her growth.
​
Cecelia continues to love to travel, especially to visit her 3 children who live in Poland, Thailand and Canada. She is an avid fan of pilates, hiking, theater and taking long walks with her dog.
Emily Sibcy
Dyslexia & Dyscalculia Specialist
Emily is a qualified assessor and specialist teacher for specific learning difficulties and holds associate membership of the British Dyslexia Association. She is a dyslexia specialist and is able to diagnose dyslexia and dyscalculia. Emily holds a BSc Psychology First Class Honours and prior to moving to Spain, worked as an Assistant Educational Psychologist in the UK where she trained and gained experience in psychometric testing and interventions working with children and young people who had learning difficulties.
Emily has undertaken training in counselling and mentoring and is passionate about helping children to understand themselves and their difficulties, the way they learn and their unique strengths. Emily’s sessions are based on special education teaching principles where learning is structured, cumulative and multisensory and with the needs of each child at the forefront.
Emily enjoys learning and has completed training courses in ADHD, assessing children who are academically able and supporting literacy skills in children with English as an additional language. Emily is a Spanish speaker and enjoys reading, doing puzzles and crosswords and socialising with her friends and family