The mission of Central Coast Language and Learning Center is to provide comprehensive, research-based interventions to support the development of language, learning, and a confident sense of self. We provide direct, explicit systematic and multisensory instruction to facilitate fundamental communication, understanding of learning style, academic success, self-esteem and compensatory strategies for learning

CCLLC brings together the area’s resources by providing the full range of educational support services. Our professional associations include: psychologists, educational therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, learning disabilities specialists, and academic coaches.

Whether your child needs a full psycho-educational evaluation, skills remediation, academic support or a transition plan. CCLLC can meet your individual needs. We serve individuals ages 2 through adult.

Scope of Practice: dyslexia, gifted, receptive and expressive language disorders, aphasia, auditory processing, visual motor integration, nonverbal learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, autism, motivation, self esteem, college planning. Jennifer D’Attilio, M.S., CCC-SLP has served as the Director of Speech and Language Services at Central Coast Language and Learning for the past seven years, and the Clinical Coordinator of the Speech Pathology Department at Natividad Medical Center for ten years. In coordination with Alisal Family Resource Center, she provides free screenings for language and learning disabilities and speech language services for children ages 0-adults. Coordinating early intervention services among a variety of professionals, including the head of the Niños Clinic and the rehabilitation team of physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers and early intervention, staff has identified early language and learning difficulties in thousands of young children. She is also an instructor for San Jose State University’s Department of Speech and Language Pathology, and supervises graduate students in their internships and clinical fellowships. Jennifer has provided local and national trainings on best practices in early intervention and inclusion of children with special needs.

Erica Lewis Herro, M.A, B.C.E.T. has served as the Director of Evaluation and Instruction Services at Central Coast Language and Learning Center for the past seven years, consulting with mental health professionals, educators and school administrators to support children ages 0-adults with special needs. She is also an instructor in the Educational Therapy program for University of California at Santa Cruz – Extension, teaching and training learning specialists to work more effectively with students with special needs. Her strength lies in the integration of information from pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health professionals, administrators, teachers and parents to create a unified plan from which the team can make educated decisions. Erica has provided local and national trainings on best practices in evaluation, early intervention, and curriculum for children with language and learning disabilities.

Together they have established Baby University and Avalon Preschool program, models for early intervention services provided to children ages 0-5 in a multidisciplinary framework at Central Coast Language and Learning Center. These programs are currently integrated into the public sector through San Andreas Regional Center to provide services to a wider population. Outside of direct service, families continue to be trained by the team in play that elicits language and language sampling, feeding and providing a specific sensory diet to decrease sensory sensitivity and/or over-stimulation, developmental milestones and local resources. Collaboration and follow-up are carried over into the home life and school years of the child. In one center, we have the experience of screening, referring, and coordinating a comprehensive treatment program for multilingual families from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds; careful tracking and follow up has made this program a success. As this philosophy of collaboration has gained recognition, the San Jose State University Department of Communicative Disorders and the University of California at Santa Cruz Educational Therapy Program have become partners with CCLLC directors. The academic community has begun to embrace early start intervention, parent training and collaboration. Under the supervision of CCLLC directors, graduate students and clinical fellows are taking this philosophy out into the community to reach more families of children at risk. At Salinas Adult School and Alisal Family Resource Center, infant teachers have begun working in partnership with social workers and families to support early language. Screenings and follow-up services are being provided and progress is being tracked through research-based team assessment. Virdette L. Brumm, Ph.D. is a pediatric neuropsychologist. She received her doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Southern California (USC) and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996. Dr. Brumm is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology and Pediatrics at the USC/Keck School of Medicine. She has been on the medical staff at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles since 1996.

Dr. Brumm provides comprehensive evaluation of children and adolescents who have cognitive, learning, behavioral and/or emotional difficulties as a result of medical, neurological or developmental issues affecting brain function. She assesses children with a history of traumatic brain injury, seizure disorder, brain tumor, learning and memory difficulties, and attention deficit disorder as well as other neurological and developmental conditions. Dr. Brumm has extensive experience through her clinical, academic and research experience. Her clinical research interests include: functional magnetic resonance imaging and neurocognitive aspects of phenylketonuria and other genetic diseases affecting cerebral white matter and the neuropsychological sequalea of neuroblastoma.