Ariela Jokel, PhD, CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist with extensive experience working at child development centers in the US and Israel. She completed her undergrad degree in psychology with a minor in Spanish at York University in Toronto, Canada and her Masters and Doctoral degrees in communication sciences and disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD Callier Center). She served as the head SLP at the Weinberg Child Development Center at Safra Children's Hospital, Tel-Hashomer Sheba Medical Center for 10 years. She is currently a lecturer at the Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, at Tel Aviv University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on language and autism. She owns a private practice in Kochav Ya’ir, Israel where she consults and works with individuals with communication challenges across all ages, from birth to adulthood, as well as with their families. Ariela’s research and clinical work were strongly influenced by her curiosity as a psychology student while volunteering with autistic children. She recalls wondering and asking questions about how these young children will communicate and function as grown-ups, which led to the focus of her doctoral dissertation—a follow-up study of young children with autism into school age. She was particularly interested in learning about their cognitive and language profiles. Ariela continues to conduct research on language and autism, has published a number of journal articles and provides various clinical talks and workshops in the field. She serves as a board committee member of the Israeli Speech Hearing and Language Association (ISHLA) since 2012 and is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Ariela is a member of the Social Thinking® Training and Speakers' Collaboration and trains on the Social Thinking Methodology across Israel. Her passion is to train parents and professionals, making Social Thinking available to clients of all ages throughout Israel.
Personal: Born in Santa-Fe, Argentina and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, Ariela moved to Israel with her parents and two siblings at the age of 12. She completed her army service in the Israeli Defense Force and, in 1990, moved with her husband to Toronto, Canada where they completed undergraduate studies, and later to Dallas, Texas where they completed graduate school. In 2007, Ariela and her husband, Ronen, moved back from the USA to Kochav Ya’ir, Israel with their 3 children. Ariela is fluent in Hebrew, English, and Spanish.
Speaking experience:
- Early identification and assessment of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Early Childhood Development
- Child Language Development- Creating a Language Rich Environment
- The Development of Play in Early Childhood
- Intervention Strategies for Communication, Language and Play
- Autism- Theories and Characteristics
- Autism and Play- from Assessment to Therapy
- Living with Autism in Daily Life
- Eating Therapy for Individuals with Autism
- Parent Training- Working with Families as a Team
- Using iPads in Communication, Speech and Language Therapy
Financial Disclosure
Financial: Speaker for Think Social Publishing, Inc. and receives speaking fees.
Non-financial: No relevant non-financial relationships exist.
