Katie Ruder

A midwestern girl at heart, Katie graduated from the University of Kansas with a master’s degree in speech-language pathology in 2004. Since then, she has provided speech and language therapy to children as young as 3 months of age to age 18 in various settings including their homes, schools, childcare centers and clinics. She is well-experienced in a variety of treatment methods, selecting those that best meet your child’s needs. As a qualified therapist with a certificate of clinical competence from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, she is skilled and experienced at working with children who have a variety of communication disorders and diagnoses.

Throughout her career Katie has gravitated towards supporting the autistic community. Her passion has lead her to this point in her career where she has found her niche- in helping young autistic learners and their families connect through play. This play based approach is the basis for how families and young children learn to communicate with one another. Katie believes autistic play is valid and building relationships and trust creates intrinsic motivation in children to communicate.

Katie lives in Athens with her husband and three children. When she's not down on the ground playing with toddlers, Katie enjoys being outdoors, being around friends and family, going on adventures with her daughter, and watching her boys play soccer.