Aleksasha Wannemacher

MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.S.) SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

Speech and Language Pathologist

Aleksasha attended William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ) where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Disorders and Sciences. She then continued her education at WPUNJ and earned a Master of Science (M.S.) in Speech-Language Pathology.

She is thrilled to be a part of the All About Speech & Language team as a part-time therapist. She loves working with children of all ages, from little ones on up!

She currently works full-time in an elementary school within Hillsborough County Public Schools serving students with a variety of exceptionalities from PK-5th grade. She uses evidence-based practice to provide individual and group speech-language therapy to elementary aged students in general education classrooms. She develops and carries out treatment plans to target student goals and facilitate functional communication across settings; treating a variety of areas including receptive and expressive language, pragmatics, articulation, phonology, and fluency.

Prior to moving to Florida in 2020, she worked in NJ at an elementary school with a focus on preschool disabled students and elementary school aged students with autism and multiple disabilities. Here, she gained knowledge in both low-tech and high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods, providing push-in services, and working with students with varied cultures and backgrounds.

Aleksasha works diligently to collaborate with teachers, therapists, families, and students to help generalize and promote skills across settings. She is dedicated to fostering and facilitating the development and rehabilitation of communication skills in order to help clients achieve their greatest speech and language outcomes.

Aleksasha loves spending time outside in nature with her boyfriend. She enjoys being with family and friends, hanging out with her cats, finding new coffee shops, watching movies, going to the beach, and eating gluten-free goodies!

More About Aleksasha:

What is your favorite food?
I cannot live without coffee; I could eat pizza every single day and I have a strange addiction to Chipotle.

What is your favorite holiday and why?
I love everything and anything about Christmas. I LOVE the decorating, listening to Christmas music, watching holiday movies, and giving gifts. I just love all of the magic that time of year.

What is a cool hobby of yours?
I have always enjoyed scrapbooking and hiking.

Favorite Halloween costume you wore as a child?
I was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz two years in a row.

What did you want to be “when you grow up”?
I have always loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian. I was a vet tech assistant for about 10 years through high school and college.

Why did you become a therapist?
I became a therapist because it is the most rewarding job. I still love it just as much as when I started. The little (and big) achievements during sessions make all of the hard work worth it.

What’s the funniest thing one of your kids has said to you or done during therapy?
It was around Halloween and we were playing Halloween Bingo. My student wasn’t sure of the word for candy corn, so he described it to me as a “candy carrot”.

Give me one surprising/cool fact about you?
I was the stage manager for the school plays and musicals throughout high school.

What pets do you have and what are their names?
We adopted two cats, they are brothers – Zeus and Hades.

What is your favorite movie and why?
I love anything Disney, but some of my top favorites are Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., National Treasure, and Inside Out. It is not a movie, but my absolute favorite TV show is Gilmore Girls. I have watched it more times than I can count.

Favorite song?
This is a very hard one since I listen to such a variety of music, but “What Dreams Are Made Of” from The Lizzie McGuire Movie will always be a favorite. I was always a huge fan of Hilary Duff.

Favorite book?
I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain. As a child, I loved Amelia Bedelia.