Francesca Bierens is a speech-language therapist and primary school teacher and was educated at Waikato College of Teacher Education in Hamilton and Christchurch Teachers College, New Zealand. She has worked as a speech therapist in both the Education and Health sectors as well as in private practice. She has a particular interest in working with children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. Francesca has also worked as a speech-language therapist in Malaysia and Canada. She now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.