As the Director of Child Language Services at The Hanen Centre™, Nancy Johnson provides leadership and direction to the It Takes Two to Talk® Program, coordinating the development of program materials and resources, and supporting speech-language pathologists who lead the program. She is also responsible for overseeing the It Takes Two to Talk® certification workshop and the Spark Communication™ workshop for early interventionists. Nancy received her Master of Arts Degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Michigan State University. She began working at the Children’s Developmental Rehabilitation Programme at Chedoke-McMaster Hospital in Ontario, Canada (now part of Hamilton Health Services) in 1987. It was while working in this out-patient setting that Nancy recognized how integral family involvement in early intervention was. She attended her first Hanen workshop (It Takes Two to Talk®) in 1988 and immediately led an It Takes Two to Talk® Program for Parents of Children with Language Delays. Two to Talk®) in 1988 and immediately led an It Takes Two to Talk® Program for Parents of Children with Language Delays. Nancy was thrilled when she saw the impact of parents and caregivers gaining the skills to facilitate their children’s communication development, as well as the benefits of teaching parents within a group setting. She had found the framework that would inform her clinical work in early intervention.

In 1989, Nancy moved to British Columbia, Canada, and was instrumental in the establishment of a community-based early intervention program. Based on a family-centred service delivery model, Hanen Programs were foundational to the services Nancy offered at the Ridge Meadows Child Development Centre in Maple Ridge, British Columbia for more than 25 years. 

In 2000, Nancy became an It Takes Two to Talk® Instructor, leading certification workshops and sharing her passion for the program with speech-language pathologists internationally. Nancy joined The Hanen Centre™ in 2021 as Director of Child Language Services and is thrilled to be a part of the organization that informed her clinical work for so many years.

Anne McDade provides leadership and direction for Hanen’s autism parent programs and workshops for professionals, including More Than Words®, TalkAbility™ and 4 “I”s to Socialize™. Anne is from Glasgow, Scotland, and her Hanen story began in 1992 when she attended an It Takes Two to Talk® workshop as a student. In her first year working in the field at the National Health Service (NHS) Lanarkshire, Scotland, she was struck by how little parents were involved in the early intervention process, and she was certain her impact could be increased with a parent-implemented model. So, Anne successfully sought funding for a study on the It Takes Two to Talk® program for parents in 1992. When the study yielded excellent results, the NHS Lanarkshire created two full time posts for speech-language therapists to run Hanen programs, with Anne filling one of them.  

Anne went on to become an It Takes Two to Talk® workshop instructor in 1995 and a Learning Language and Loving It instructor in 1997. Her greatest passion, however, lay in working with autistic children and their families, and she suspected early on that particular Hanen strategies could be helpful for this  group of children.  When More Than Words®– The Hanen Program® for Parents of Autistic Children was developed in 1999, she immediately attended the More Than Words workshop and became certified to lead the More Than Words program for parents. She then went on to become an instructor for the More Than Words workshop in 2000, as well as for the TalkAbility workshop in 2009. 

In 2017, Anne spearheaded the development of 4 “I”s to Socialize, a Hanen training that draws on the Hanen approach to coaching and strategies from the More Than Words program and which is offered to a variety of professionals who work with young autistic children and their families. This training focuses on helping early intervention professionals support and coach parents of autistic children so they can play a leading role in their child’s intervention.
 
In 2019, Anne relocated to Canada in order to assume the role of Program Director for all of Hanen’s autism parent programs and professional trainings. She was instrumental in converting Hanen’s in-person autism professional training workshops to online workshops, as well as creating telepractice versions for More Than Words and TalkAbility programs for parents. Anne currently spearheads the development of all Hanen autism program materials and resources, and supports the speech-language pathologists on staff who lead these programs.

Helen Livshits provides leadership and direction to the Learning Language and Loving It™ and ABC & Beyond™ programs for early childhood educators, as well as leadership to the workshops by the same name, which are offered to those who train educators. Helen oversees the development of program materials and resources for these programs, and supports the speech-language pathologists and early childhood consultants who deliver these programs and use the resources. 

Helen received her Master of Health Science Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. She spent a number of years consulting in the school system before joining Toronto Preschool Speech and Language Services as a clinician, providing a variety of services to young children and their families. It was in this role that Helen recognized the critical importance of involving families and other caregivers in early language intervention, which motivated her to attend her first Hanen workshop (It Takes Two to Talk®). When Helen moved on to another position that involved working with autistic children and their families, she completed the More Than Words® workshop and went on to lead More Than Words® – The Hanen Program® for Parents of Autistic Children. Seeing the positive impact of parent involvement in their child’s intervention was a catalyst for Helen’s push to include Hanen principles as an integral part of all the speech and language services provided at the organization where she was working. 

Helen joined The Hanen Centre™ in 2017, where she shifted her focus to building children’s language and literacy, specifically in early childhood education settings. She believes passionately in the power of educators to have a life-long impact on children's development. She is a Learning Language and Loving It™ workshop instructor and leads Learning Language and Loving It™ certification workshops for professionals, sharing the program’s benefits with speech-language pathologists and practitioners worldwide.