Our Philosophy

Our name stems from kōkako who gave Māui water as he fought the sun by filling its plump wattles with water and offering it to Māui to quench his thirst. Māui rewarded kōkako for its kindness by stretching its legs until they were lean, long and robust. So that kōkako could easily leap through the forest to find food. At kōkako, we believe in kindness and growing each individual to their full potential and reaching
greater heights.

Who’s Mandana

Mandana is a Senior Speech & Language Therapist with over 24 years of experience in different countries. She has worked in Iran, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand, with a wide range of speech, language, voice, fluency, articulation delays and disorders. As a Speech Therapist in a Special Needs School, She has a lot of experience working with school-age and young people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Neurological Disorders as well as complex needs.
She believes in working collaboratively with the individual, their whānau and other agencies to ensure the therapy is fun, functional, and achievable across all settings.
She is a Communication Assisted Technology (CAT L1) accredited and Lego Therapist too.
She lives with her adventurous husband and talented 6-year-old son in Rotorua. Mandana began her private practice “Kōkako Speech Therapy” to ensure that the local Rotoruaian citizens have access to a private and evidenced-based Speech & Language Therapy Service.
She is a fully registered member of the New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists Association.

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