meet mariya kika
B.A., M.H.Sc.
Reg. CASLPO #8903
Founder & Speech-Language Pathologist
Mariya is a Toronto-based speech language pathologist. She built Cognicare to be the care she wishes more people had access to: virtual, holistic, and built entirely around your life.
Why She Does This Work
Mariya had speech therapy herself as a child. She remembers the isolation of being called from the classroom and sitting in a closet-sized space to receive intervention. She also remembers the warmth of the speech-language pathologist and how her confidence and communication skills grew.
That experience shapes her approach to this work. She knows what it feels like to sit on the other side of the table, and she’s never forgotten it.
When something changes, whether it’s a stroke, a brain injury, or a diagnosis that finally puts language to something you’ve felt for years, it can feel like your life has stopped, or like you no longer recognize yourself.
That doesn’t have to be the end of the story.
Her work is about helping people find their way back to a life that feels like theirs again. Not by ignoring what has changed, but by building practical, sustainable skills that work to both strengthen and support your abilities.
She also recognizes that the world isn’t built the same way for everyone. Her work encompasses communication and participation in society, and is founded on the belief that you should not apologize for communication differences or needs. Part of her work is creating space for those differences and helping clients feel confident, understood, and supported exactly as they are.
Ready to talk about what you’re navigating?
Her Training
Mariya’s academic background is in psycholinguistics and cognitive science, with clinical training through a Master of Health Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. Psycholinguistics is the study of language within the context of the human brain and how psychological, and neurocognitive processes and factors influence it.
In practical terms, this means she doesn’t look at speech and communication in isolation. She also considers how changes in the brain influence language and cognitive processes. She understands that memory, attention, fatigue, and mood all influence communication, and integrates them into treatment for an approach that reflects your functioning in its entirety.
Her continuing education reflects that same breadth, including trauma-informed practice, so that sessions stay attuned to what a sudden diagnosis or injury can actually feel like, not just its clinical presentation.
This is the foundation of the holistic approach she brings to every session: practical strategies built around the whole person, reflecting the entirety of your functioning and what’s actually happening in your life.
Her experience
Her clinical experience is varied, with the following examples providing an understanding into the range of people that she has supported:
Autistic Teens
Running social communication groups focused on real peer connection, not scripted small talk.
Educators
Helping teachers manage the cognitive communication demands of classroom management and teaching.
Executives
Supporting industry leaders relearning how to manage high-stakes cognitive and communicative load after neurological changes.
Her experience also extends geographically. Through virtual care, Mariya has supported clients across Ontario, from Toronto to as far north as Thunder Bay. Living outside a major city shouldn’t mean having to go without specialized care.
Much of this experience grew out of her time working at Altum Health, part of Toronto’s University Health Network. There, she worked as the sole speech-language pathologist, delivering in-person and virtual care across satellite sites and to clients throughout Ontario.
That experience shaped how she thinks about therapy: not just symptom by symptom, but life by life.
Linguistically Affirming Care
Mariya provides care in English and has experience and training supporting clients from a wide range of linguistic backgrounds and English proficiency levels.
Her training extends beyond speech-language pathology through the completion of a 120-Hour TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification from the University of Toronto. This builds on her academic background and deepens her structural understanding of how language itself is learned, and how that intersects with communication differences following injury or diagnosis.
If English isn’t your first language, or you’re unsure how your language background might affect therapy, she’d be glad to talk it through with you.
Credentials & Verification
Mariya is a registered member of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO), Reg. #8903.
CASLPO is the regulatory body responsible for licensing and overseeing speech-language pathologists in Ontario. It ensures registrants meet ongoing standards for competence, ethics, and patient safety.
Her registration can be verified directly through the CASLPO public register.
professional memberships
FND Society
International professional community focused on functional neurological disorder research and care.
Canadian Telerehabilitation Community of Practice
Supporting best practices in virtual healthcare delivery across Canada.
Canadian Concussion Network
A national network advancing concussion care and research.
certifications
Functional Neurological Disorder: Rehabilitation Treatment 101 — FND Society
Introduction to Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia — The Aphasia Institute
publications
Mariya has co-authored two peer-reviewed studies: one exploring how speech-language pathologists make clinical decisions when assessing bilingual clients, and one surveying the next generation of Canadian SLP students entering the field.
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Wood, E., Kika, M., Daub, O., & Molnar, M. (2025). Why Did You Use That Test? Exploring Speech-Language Pathologists' Clinical Decision Making in Bilingual Language and Literacy Assessment. American journal of speech-language pathology, 34(5), 2666–2686. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_AJSLP-24-00569
Wood, E., Kika, M., & Molnar, M. (2024). Who are the Speech-Language Pathologists of the Future? Results of a national demographic survey of Canadian SLP Students. medRxiv, 2024-09.
Let’s talk about what you need.
If you’re navigating a sudden change in your communication, cognition, or the way you experience the world, please know that you will be met with understanding in this space, not judgement.
You do not have to justify what you’re going through in order to receive support.