Our Story
We serve Central & Northern Vermont
We proudly offer a team of skilled professionals with over 30 years of experience in Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Mental Health and Wellness.
All clinicians at Charis Learning Center are committed to a current, neurodiversity affirming, social model of care for their clients and families. All are familiar with and implement the Natural Language Acquisition/Gestalt Processing model, Interoception practices, and self-regulation strategies informed by sensory considerations and Autism Level Up.
The Charis Learning Center Team
Mary B. Asper
Chief Financial Officer and Founder of Charis Learning CenterCertified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist
Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Charis Learning Center
Her 22-year career in Speech and Language Pathology includes, but is not limited to:
- Providing direct services and speech-language assistant supervision as a contracted school SLP
- Designing and implementing a multidisciplinary team (Psychologist, Speech Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist) to design wrap-around programming for autistic students in public schools
- Membership with Vermont Autism Task Force and Vermont Speech Language Hearing Association
- Training teachers/special educators in strategies for supporting autistic student
- Supervising Clinical Fellowships for recent graduates of SLP programs
- Training/supervising multiple speech-language assistants (SLPAs)
- Presenting professional development seminars for PESI for 6 years; and BER for 2 years
- Establishing, growing and spearheading Charis Learning Center since 2020
In her encore career, Mary will continue to guide and direct the development of Charis Learning Center and its staff. She will be sharing her knowledge and expertise through multiple media sources to continue to support families and children as both an author and a mentor. You can soon find her resources around the website.
She is looking forward to spending time with her 5 grandchildren, having more time to train with Tucker, her champion Australian Shepherd, and lots of cooking, baking, gardening. She will continue to inspire the next generation of providers in Vermont, and to fight for others.
Kate Moody
Occupational Therapist, OTR/L, Assistant Clinical DirectorKate received a Bachelors of Health Communication with Minor in Psychology in May of 2013, and her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy in December of 2015, both From Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. Her background in Psychology was concentrated on developmental psychology, and Kate has completed programming with specialties in ADLs, including Incontinence training. She and her husband Jake moved to Vermont in 2017, and Kate began working at Charis in Summer 2024. She is our Lead Occupational Therapist with an affinity for helping those with autism improve their independence in daily skills.
Her young daughter Madeline and her dog Tonks keep her very busy! The Moody family enjoys hiking, doing science experiments, playing Dungeons and Dragons and improving their home with various projects. In her downtime, Kate enjoys painting, sewing, gardening, and playing strategic card games.
Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist
Kristy Cotnoir
Speech and Language Pathologist, MS, CCC-SLP, MBSR, Administrative StaffKristy earned her masters degree from the University of Rhode Island in 2017 and relocated to Berlin, VT for her clinical fellowship in Speech and Language Pathology. Her specialties include helping those with autism spectrum disorder, concussion/TBI and stroke recovery, by improving their use of strategies to help with attention, problem solving, organization and social language skills. She has worked with clients ages 3-103 and their families on their individualized goals. She has experience helping others improve across multiple settings, including inpatient and outpatient rehab centers, as well as in nursing homes.
Her use of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques have helped clients develop cognitive wellness programs and strategies to improve their day to day functioning and interpersonal communication skills. When she’s not at Charis, you can find her reading at the library, writing in a coffee shop, spending time near the lake, or volunteering with dance/theatre performances. Her special interests include orca whales, sharks, dancing, and hedgehogs. She lives in northern VT with her husband Kyle.
Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist
Tonks Moody
Client SupportTonks is a German Shepherd and Labrador Retriever mix. She was born in February of 2017, and moved to Vermont to live with Katey at twelve weeks old. Tonks has been helping clients meet their OT goals in a fun way since she was a puppy, completing Canine Good Citizen training and advanced Obedience training from Gold Star Dog Training. Her favorite activities are taking her people for walks, playing fetch, more walks, and belly rubs.
AAT is well documented with the Neurodivergent population as animals tend to place less demands on the person than people do, allowing for learning with co-regulation, voice and activity modulation, cognitive strategies and new learning in the context of fun with a dog!
Tucker
Client SupportTucker is our soft and cuddly office friend who provides sensory, empathetic, and joyful support to our clients. He can be found providing greetings at the door, offering unending pets, or giving comfort when needed. Tucker is an Australian Shepherd. He holds two championships, one American Kennel Club and one Australian Shepherd Club of America. When he is not working with clients, Tucker loves to run and play, herd anything he can, and work on his Obedience and therapy dog training skills.
If you have severe allergies to dogs, we can reschedule evaluation appointments at a different location.
In Memoriam – Sophie Mae
May 5, 2011 – Dec. 28 2025
Sophie provided empathic comfort to a wide range of people – in schools, clinics and her personal life, for nearly all her life. She raised multiple puppies (not hers), teaching them her skills and how to behave. Sophie the Social Coach could be counted on to keep everyone in the group, model appropriate pack behavior, and share the joy of a good run. Her legacy lives on in Mr. Tucker, who was her last puppy to share her wisdom with.