“The heart of my profession is giving parents the opportunity to truly enjoy parenthood. No one teaches us how to be parents, yet it’s one of the most important — and sometimes most challenging — things we do in life. Every parent makes their own choices about how to raise, nurture, and educate their children, but those choices aren’t always safe or effective. I share my knowledge so that the choices parents make are beneficial for their children and bring the results parents are hoping for.”
Child Speech and Development Specialist, Child Development Psychologist. Specialization: initiating and developing speech in children, as well as consulting parents on speech development for children with developmental differences.
Primary education — Altai State Pedagogical University (Barnaul, Russia), degree in Special Psychology and Remedial Education (1997–2003).
Yana began her professional career in her fourth year of university (2001) at “Zhuravliki” (Barnaul) — a rehabilitation center for children and adolescents with special health needs.
She worked as a Child Development Psychologist with children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP), Down syndrome, intellectual disability, speech, language, and cognitive developmental delays, educational neglect, and rare genetic conditions.
From 2007 to 2012, alongside her caseload as a practicing specialist, she also served as the head of an inpatient unit.
A key area of her work was developing and running inclusive camp programs that brought together neurotypical children and children with developmental differences.
Leading these programs helped her develop a systemic understanding of the challenges faced by families raising children with disabilities. In 2012, Yana was transferred to the Ministry of Social Protection of the Altai Krai (regional government). In her government role, she oversaw the operations of 4 rehabilitation centers and 36 family and children’s services units across the Altai Krai region.
It was a true school of life: managing large volumes of documentation, helping organize major regional events and competitions, preparing materials for the Governor of the Altai Krai, and participating in writing national-level grants — which they won and subsequently implemented through the rehabilitation centers.
In 2017, Yana founded the Center for Child Psychology and Speech Development “Tomatis 54” (Novosibirsk, Russia), where she was able to apply not only her extensive hands-on experience working with children, but also her skills in organizing structured, system-wide support for families raising children with special health needs.
A team of highly skilled professionals — Child Speech and Development Specialists, psychologists, neuropsychologists, and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) — helps parents address developmental, behavioral, and educational challenges at every stage: initiating speech, adjusting to preschool, preparing for school, and keeping up with the school curriculum (both mainstream and specialized).
Alongside her practice, Yana pursues academic work: synthesizing her professional experience, publishing articles in academic journals, and presenting at international conferences.
In August 2023, she published the book “So Every Child Speaks on Time and Develops on Track,” which helps parents prevent many common developmental challenges in children.
Currently, Yana specializes in differential diagnosis of children and creating Individualized Development Plans based on evaluation results, which include recommendations across both medical and educational domains.
With this kind of plan and roadmap in hand, parents significantly increase their child’s chances of receiving timely support and successful socialization — which means the child will thrive in school, in relationships, and in life.
Yana is a member of the All-Russian Union of Speech Development Specialists and a member of the Association of Child Psychiatrists and Psychologists.
Yana shares her knowledge, experience, and methodology with fellow professionals through in-person and online training events.
