Ashlee Welday, M.S. CCC-SLP

Ashlee is a neurodiversity affirming speech-language pathologist specializing in play-based therapy for children ages 18 months-4 years and social communication therapy for school aged children and young adults. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and her Masters in Speech Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University.

Ashlee specializes in providing social communication therapy using the Social Thinking® Methodology, executive function strategies, Social Stories, and emotional regulation tools. Social Thinking®, developed by Michelle Garcia Winner, helps individuals to explore their own social cognition and related social skills. As a senior therapist at Social Thinking San Jose, where she worked for 10 years, Ashlee’s therapy centered around helping clients to learn more about the social world around them and how to adapt to meet their own personal social goals. She has collaborated with teachers, administrators, psychologists, and other professionals to support her client’s success in their school, work, and community settings.

In addition to her extensive work in social communication therapy, Ashlee has worked in non-public schools for autistic students, developing and implementing Individualized Education Plans and 504 plans, as well as an assessor and interventionist for the San Andreas Regional Center’s Early Start Program for children ages 0-3. Additionally, she has supported Bay Area daycare and preschool programs offering classroom wide support for speech, language, and social development.

As a professional, Ashlee has presented at national and global speech-language pathology conferences and has helped supervise and train other speech language pathologists and students in social cognitive therapy from across the country.

In her free time, Ashlee is the parent of a toddler who keeps her very busy exploring new parks and playing together. She also enjoys gardening, reading fantasy novels, board gaming, and trying new restaurants with her family.