Our people

Lynn Abelson is a speech-language pathologist and DIR® model program manager at The Phoenix Center, a private, not for profit school in Nutley, New Jersey. This school serves students ages 5-21 with autism and other developmental disabilities. Lynn leads staff in integrating the DIR® model approach into the classroom and community, with a focus on developing innovative programming in vocational training. Lynn also provides private DIR® model-based intervention to children and their families, tutors professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of DIR® model, co-chairs the DIR Floortime® Coalition of New Jersey, and served as a training leader at the ICDL Institute. Additionally, Lynn is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health at Montclair State University and an adjunct professor in its Developmental Models of Autism Intervention graduate certificate program. Lynn is DIR® model certified in speech-language pathology and occupational therapy and PROMPT® (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) certified. In 2013, Lynn was awarded the Related Service Provider of the Year by NAPSEC (National Association of Private Special Education Centers).

Maria is a primary school teacher and a special education teacher from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been working in the special education field since 1990. She completed a 6-month fellowship program in special education at Kennedy Krieger School, Baltimore, Maryland in 2000. Maria has been working in programs of trans-disciplinary assessment and intervention in early childhood and in particular, in intervention programs for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. She is the Coordinator of the DIR® Model Service at CETNA, FLENI (www.fleni.org.ar) and has worked at summer camp programs at Celebrate the Children School in New Jersey.

Maria has held a DIR® model certificate since 2007 and served as a training leader at ICDL. She has co-coordinated numerous trainings in the DIR Floortime® in Argentina, both at FLENI and at UAI (Universidad Abierta Interamericana), in Buenos Aires and across the country. She provides DIR® model-based interventions to children and their families and supervises and consults with professional teams working with children and adolescents with special needs. Maria has been invited to different conferences and lectures across the country to speak about the DIR® model.

Georgina Ahrens gained her Bachelor of Applied Science – Occupational Therapy from the University of Sydney, Cumberland College Australia in 1996. She has spent the last 25 years working with children diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorders firstly in the United States and then returning to Sydney in 2003 and setting up a private practice in the North Shore. Georgina is a certified practitioner with the Interdisciplinary Council for the Development and Learning and an Assistant Faculty for Profectum to provide treatment and training in the use of the DIR® model. She has been providing this model of treatment to a range of neurodiverse children and families in her practice.

Carrie Alvarado, PhD, OTR, Profectum ™ Assistant Faculty Member, serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Autism Community Network (ACN), located in San Antonio, Texas. ACN is a non-profit focused on provision of both interdisciplinary diagnosis and innovative intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder. ACN also serves as a hub of education and empowerment for impacted families and the professional communities that support them. ACN is scheduled to serve as the anchor of autism services for the The Multi-Assistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland, or The MAC™, in San Antonio, which is being touted as a one-stop-shop model which will provide medical and non-medical services for individuals with special needs of all ages in one setting and platform (slated to open in 2022).

Carrie is also the creator and director of two clinical programs at ACN. One of these is the Earliest Connections Clinic, a diagnostic program geared toward early identification and therapeutic intervention for high-risk infants and toddlers (prematurity, trauma/neglect, siblings of children on the spectrum).Additionally, Carrie leads the DIRFloortime®/ PACT (Pediatric Autism Communication Therapy) Hands-on Family Empowerment program- an intensive intervention program supporting families impacted by autism through dyadic coaching using both in-vivo and reflective video feedback modalities.

Dr. Alvarado’s primary research interests are in Sensoriaffective Integration and attachment, clinical use of reflective video feedback, optimizing parent-mediated interventions and scale development. She completed her dissertation on establishing preliminary validity of a new clinical assessment and coaching tool, the Sensoriaffective Interactional Attunement Scale (SAIAS) geared toward promoting enhanced use of sensoriaffective signaling between caregivers and their children. Carrie is also currently engaged in development of another scale, (not yet named), focused on evaluating the presence, sophistication and sequencing of themes of emotional intelligence in child-led symbolic dyadic play.

Kate Bailey is a highly qualified and specialised occupational therapist with 30 + years of experience in the field of paediatrics.

Kate graduated from UCT with a BSc degree in Occupational Therapy in 1985.  After a year of travel and working in the field of Geriatrics in Burnley General Hospital, England, Kate returned to Cape Town, South Africa where she discovered her passion for children at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, working in the areas of burns and learning disabilities.

Kate moved to Johannesburg and joined a Paediatric Private Practice, working with children with learning challenges. During this time she continued part-time studies at WITS University for another 6 years where she attained her qualification in Sensory Integration and an Adv. Dip. OT in Neurosciences and a MSc OT (1993).

In 1991 when her first daughter, Lara, was born, Kate opened a paediatric private practice in Fourways, together with her occupational therapy and physiotherapy colleagues. She specialised in working with pre-school and primary-school children with Sensory Integration Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Syndromes, Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Delay.

With the birth of her second daughter, Jenna, in 1995, Kate discovered her deeper purpose in partnering parents and families in working with their babies, toddlers and young children. She added Neurodevelopmental Therapy to her repertoire of knowledge by doing the Basic Paediatric Course in NDT and the NDT Baby Treatment Course. This equipped her with knowledge and skills to work with babies, toddlers and young children at risk for developmental delay due to Prematurity, Syndromes, Sensory Regulatory Disorders, Sensory Integration Disorders, Neurological Disorders, Cerebral Palsy, Cortical Visual Impairment and Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

In 1997, Kate’s son, Ross, was born premature and spent a few weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. This together with her passion for early intervention initiated her research and development of the Dvd series “Making Sense of My World” – completed in 1998. In this 4-part series, Kate demonstrates the milestones of development and provides parents with fun, easy-to-do activities to stimulate sensory and motor development in the first year of a baby’s life. This series, renamed “Stimulate Your Baby”, was revised and re-filmed together with Liz Senior from Clamber Club, and is now available in a downloadable format from www.clamberclub.com.

Kate believes in the importance of early intervention and the impact nurturing, loving relationships have on the development of the brain. With her commitment to empowering parents, Kate joined physiotherapist, Nicky Lasch in 1999 and together they developed the Moms and Babes Stimulation Programme. Moms and Babes Workshop is part of the Moms and Tots Franchise group owned by Petra Lombard. Kate and Nicky train the franchisees in the theory of sensory, motor, cognitive, play and emotional development in babies from 0 to 12 months. They also teach practical handling and stimulation of all the milestones, using fun activities that enhance caregiver-baby bonding. This two-day training programme equips the franchisees to run their own mother-baby workshops to support parents understand and enhance their babies development.

Kate expanded her knowledge by branching out to study intuitive and emotional healing techniques to complement her practice. She studied to be a Journey Practitioner with Brandon Bays (2004-2005) and a Bodytalk Practitioner, completing modules 1,2,3,4,6,7 (2006 – 2010).

As the mother of three wonderful children, and the grandmother of two gorgeous girls, Kate believes that relationships play the most important role in the growth, development and emotional wellbeing of children. From 2010, Kate embarked on her DIR® Floortime journey. DIR®, developed by psychiatrists, Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder, is a relationship based approach for children with relating and communication challenges as well as those on the Autism Spectrum.  Kate has completed the following Profectum Academy (New Jersey, USA) online courses: Basic Professionals (2012), the Fellows (2015) and the Trainers (2018) online courses. Kate presently tutors and co-leads training internationally for Profectum Academy. She also gives DIR® Introductory workshops around South Africa for Spotlight Trust, a NPO with the goal of introducing DIR® to parents, teachers, facilitators and professionals working with the growing population of children with challenges relating and communicating.

With 30 + years of experience, numerous postgraduate qualifications and a true passion for her work with children and families, Kate continually seeks to deepen her insights, knowledge and learning through sharing with other professionals by attending workshops, tutoring, lecturing and mentoring.

Ron Balamuth is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst and a graduate of the New York University post doctoral program in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. He is on the faculty and a supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute Child and adolescent training program, the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and Columbia University Teacher’s College Program in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Balamuth has been involved in DIR Floortime® method for twenty years, serves on the faculty of the DIR® model institute and conducts DIR® model workshops both nationally and internationally. Dr. Balamuth has written, presented and published numerous articles on topics ranging from psychoanalytic approaches to the body, parenting, immigration and the integration of spirituality and psychoanalysis. Dr. Balamuth is in private practice in New York City, where he consults with individuals, couples, families and children. He also leads study groups and case consultations for professionals.

Tal Baz, MS, OTR/L is a registered and licensed occupational therapist who has practiced as a DIR Floortime® therapist, supervisor and consultant for more than fifteen years and works both nationally and internationally with families, clinicians, and various school systems. She has a clinical practice in Somerville, MA, and is teaching DIR Floortime® courses through the Profectum Foundation, nationally as well as internationally. Her special interests are in sensory-affective regulation, as it develops within the parent-child relational field. Tal has served on the DIR® faculty since 2001.

Yael Bruck Binya OTR/L is an occupational therapist and a doctoral student at the Professional School of Psychology. She specializes in the field of special needs and autism, and serves as the General Manager of the Israeli DIR® organization. Yael finished her bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy in 1994 and has been working since then; she began her master’s degree in Child Development and is now a doctoral student at PSP.

DIR® Israel is the official organization that trains therapists and educators who work with children with special needs using the DIR® model. The DIR® Israeli organization is part of a large nonprofit organization called the Society for Children at Risk. Yael runs a private clinic where she provides therapy to children and families dealing with developmental delays and autism, sensory disorders, regulation disorders, sensory affective regulation and senso-motor delays. Yael lectures, provides trainings & mentors multi-disciplinary teams, and individual therapists in private and public settings nationally and internationally

Marilee Burgeson, M.A. CCC-SLP, Developmental Speech Therapist and Clinical Consultant. Marilee has 30 years of experience in early intervention with the San Diego County Office of Education. She was the team leader of the Autism Services Team for 15 years, which was recognized for outstanding service by the San Diego North County Consortium for Special Education. Marilee has been a part of DIR® training and supervision since 1996. She is a faculty member with Profectum Foundation and teaches online classes and individual mentoring.

Currently, she is Clinical Lead for Positive Development, a nationwide organization providing developmental intervention in a transdisciplinary format. Marilee is in private practice serving families and young Autistic children in their homes. She has been a part of the San Diego BRIDGE Collaborative, which is a community collaborative group that has brought together researchers, practitioners and stakeholders to provide Project Impact for Toddlers as a community-based option for our young children at risk for disorders of communicating and relating.

This collaborative effort has been funded for numerous research grants and has resulted in number of published papers highlighting the effectiveness of this model from a number of perspectives. Marilee is also a founding member of the California Association for Infant Mental Health and is a member of the Early Childhood Mental Health Leaders Collaborative in San Diego. She is passionate about transforming the practice of professionals in the DIR® model and coaching parents connecting with their child through meaningful shared experiences.

Ms. Cases graduated from Montreal University, Canada, with a degree in occupational therapy and she has actively practiced in the Philadelphia area since 2002. Ms. Cases currently treats children across all age groups with a focus on children with developmental challenges affecting their engagement and social reciprocity.Ms. Cases is a graduate of the ICDL DIR® institute since 2007, a member of the Profectum faculty and a DIR® model facilitator at the DIR® model training institute. Ms. Cases consults with different academic programs and lectures to various professional groups across the United States, providing support in adding sensory based intervention and facilitating engagement and social reciprocity throughout a child’s daily activities. Since 2010, Ms. Cases has lectured to various organization including the California Occupational Therapy Association, the Alaskan Occupational Therapy Association as well as lectured in Toronto, Canada to train parents and professional to understand and implement developmental models. Ms. Cases also tutors professionals nationally and internationally to support the use of the developmental models into their scope of practice.

Mari Caulfield is a CORU registered Speech and Language Therapist and Trainer who has been working for 40 years in the areas of generalized speech and language disorders, learning difficulties and Autism.  She is a member of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists. She has worked in a variety of clinical and management roles in Health settings in Ireland and voluntary bodies in Ireland. Mari has also followed further specialized training, which includes Montessori, Integrated Psychotherapy, Sensory Integration, MBSR Mindfulness Training, and SCERTS. She has completed the certification process in the DIRFloortime® Relationship-based Model of intervention in the USA, under the direction of Dr. Serena Wieder and Dr. Stanley Greenspan, between 2002 and 2007. 

Mari is an international Faculty member of Profectum, USA. www.profectum.org. She works collaboratively with team members, which include other therapists, medical professionals, educators and parents. She encourages the sharing of experience and expertise amongst team members, to ensure optimum quality of intervention for the child and family. 

Mari offers ongoing training to a wide variety of groups including parents, organizations, professionals, educators, community groups, staff, and university students in areas of special needs and communication, both nationally and internationally.

www.trainingways.com; www.maricaulfield.com 

Sherri Cawn is Clinical Director of Cawn-Krantz and Associates Developmental Therapies of suburban Chicago, has over 40 years of clinical pediatric experience specializing in the assessment and treatment of infants, toddlers, and school-age children. She is a leading practitioner of the DIR Floortime® in speech and language development and trains other professionals throughout the United States and overseas on the concepts of this model. She is a frequent invited presenter at professional events .

Sherri is the author of the self study DVD/Manual on the Assessment and Intervention of DIR®/Floortime Model produced by the American Speech and Hearing Association (2011). She is co-author of the language disorders chapter in the Diagnostic Manual for Infancy and Early Childhood (2005). Sherri is a senior faculty member of the ICDL DIR®/FT Model Training Institute and the online Profectum Academy DIR® model training programs and she is an adjunct faculty member at the Erikson Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She received her graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois.

Linda Cervenka is a licensed speech-language pathologist and works primarily with children and adolescence with autistic spectrum and related disorders utilizing DIR® model and development language models. She has a private practice in LaGrange, Illinois. Linda is also co-founder of Soaring Eagle Academy, an Illinois State Board of Education approved school serving students 5 through 21 years of age with autism and related disorders. Within the academy, Linda serves as an expert clinician, supporting staff and students in learning and growing within the DIR® model and developmental language model. Linda received her Bachelor’s Degree from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL and her Master’s Degree in communicative disorders from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has worked for 30 years with children with special needs, in home based and clinic based therapeutic services and public and private schools providing consultation, training and support for children and families. Linda is a senior faculty member of Profectum and has presented nationally on the topic of developmental approaches to intervention for children.

Sara Chapman is an educational consultant in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and has over 12 years of experience working with children with special needs in home, school, and community-based settings. Sara specializes in working with young children with challenges in relating and communicating, including children with autism spectrum disorders, sensory processing, and communication challenges. She holds a master’s and teaching credential in special education and is a graduate of the DIR® model institute. Sara is member of the Profectum faculty and a DIR® model facilitator at the DIR® model training institute. She is also a member of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In addition, Sara is a consultant for The Creekside School, a DIR® model-based school in San Jose, California.

Tyler specializes in the assessment and treatment of infants, toddlers, and school-age children who have diverse needs in communication, language, and speech. He believes in relationship-based approaches that embrace individual differences to help children relate, communicate, and think in complex ways. At his core, Tyler is a developmentalist, working with children and families to hone their strengths and adapt to challenges. As a speech-language pathologist, Tyler’s mission is to help children create meaning around their lives and share that meaning in the context of healthy, attuned relationships.

Currently, the bulk of his clinical practice focuses on using the DIR®/Floortime model with children and families impacted by neurodevelopmental differences in the Chicago area. Tyler embraces transdisciplinary models and has a breadth of experience working with other disciplines, such as occupational therapy and mental health. Additionally, Tyler has a range of experience implementing meaning-based approaches to literacy, story telling, and narrative thinking. He uses a whole-language perspective to increase foundational capacities for reading and writing and often speaks to parents and educators about the pitfalls of phonics-based reading programs.

In 2015, Tyler completed a year long training to become a DIR®/Floortime clinician through the Profectum Academy. He then completed Profectum’s year long DIR® Fellowship where he deepened his understanding of child development and developmental language models. Tyler is also a certified Interactive Metronome provider with specialized training in Best Practices for Pediatrics. Tyler is currently enrolled in the post-graduate certificate program in Infant Mental Health at the Erikson Institute in Chicago where he is broadening his understanding of parent-child relationships, risk and resiliency, and the effects of Trauma.

Charlotte M. Collier, Ph.D. licensed psychologist. Private practice in Souderton PA. Seeing children of all ages, with an interest in children with special needs, and using the DIR® model. Also offers treatment for adults with special needs and adults looking for a fuller sense of wellbeing, using a developmental approach. Also conducts psychological evaluations and autism assessments at Penn Foundation, Sellersville, PA. DIR® certified as a trainer and taught for the Bucks County Autism Assessment and Treatment Project.

Socorro is speech-language pathologist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been working since 1993 in assessment and intervention of children with challenges in communication, language and speech development. She currently works with children and families in her private practice, Redes Terapéuticas, with an interdisciplinary team. She has specialized in augmentative and alternative communication and in the Prompt Technique.

Socorro completed her DIR® certification at ICDL and Profectum in 2012. She participates in numerous trainings in the DIR® model in Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina.

Nora D’Angiola is a speech-language pathologist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has specialized in psycholinsguitiscs, in language development and language disorders, in programs of transdisciplinary Assessment and Intervention in early childhood and in particular, in working with infants and children with pervasive developmental disorders. She has experience as a clinician as well as a university professor and researcher, both in Argentina as in the USA, where she has resided for more than 15 years. Nora has been an attending clinician at Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires and has been on the staff at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, CA, and at the Pasadena Unified School District, CA. She has been a professor at UMSA (Universidad del Museo Social Argentino) in Buenos Aires, at CSUN (California State University, Northridge, CA ) and has been a research assistant at NPI, UCLA.

Nora is a member of ASHA (American Speech and hearing Association). She holds a DIR® Certificate and served as a Training Leader at ICDL. She has co-coordinated numerous trainings in the DIR Floortime® in Argentina, both at FLENI and at UAI (Universidad Abierta Interamericana), in Buenos Aires and across the country. She provides DIR® model-based interventions to children and their families and supervises and consults with professional teams working with children with special needs. She is a visiting professor at UMSA.

Lisa deFaria, MSW, LICSW, BCD is a Certified Senior Clinician and Profectum Founding Faculty member, with over 20 years of advanced training and clinical experience in the DIR® model and the DIRFloortime® developmental play therapy approach.

Lisa trained under Serena Wieder, PhD, and the late Stanley Greenspan, MD. She was previously on faculty with the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) and was an Associate Professor with the ICDL Graduate PhD program in Early Childhood Development. Lisa has presented at national Profectum and ICDL training symposiums, in addition to regional agency, school and university speaking engagements related to child and parent development. She provides developmental programming consultation and in-service training focusing on pro-active and positive approaches for Early Start/Infant Intervention preschools, elementary/high school and inclusion programs. Lisa has and continues to provide reflective mentorship to advanced clinicians working in the model.

Formerly the founder and director of the Family Center for Developmental Therapies in Monterey, CA, Lisa has since relocated to Washington State. She currently has a private practice on Bainbridge Island, providing child and family-centered consultation and direct services utilizing DIR® and DIRFloortime® approach. While offering general psychotherapeutic services for children and teens, Lisa remains dedicated to focusing on supporting the growth and development of young children with neurodevelopmental challenges, including autism spectrum disorders, difficulties with self-regulation, attending and focusing and those with emerging emotional, behavioral and learning challenges.

Lisa has a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Southern California and holds dual licensure in California and Washington State as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW/LICSW) and is a Board-Certified Diplomat (BCD) in Clinical Social Work. Lisa is an accredited member of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work, the National Association for Social Work, the Washington Society for Clinical Social Workers, and the Bainbridge Island Psychotherapy Guild.

www.lisadefaria.com

Mona M. Delahooke, PhD is a clinical psychologist specializing in the development of infants, young children, and their families. She has received training as an infant mental health specialist, and works widely with multi-disciplinary teams supporting children with developmental or emotional delays. She is a faculty member of the Early Intervention Training Institute (EITI) of the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic. She is a senior faculty member and mental health working group Co-Chair of the Profectum Foundation. She also provides training to personnel in the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and agencies across the country. Dr. Delahooke has a blog for parents and professionals, the Visible Parent, at www.thevisibleparent.com and at Facebook at /www.facebook.com/thevisibleparent and twitter at /twitter.com/monadelahooke

Professional Affiliations

Member: American Psychological Association

Member: California Psychological Association

Senior Faculty Member: Profectum Foundation

Faculty Member: Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic Early Intervention Training Institute

Recent Trainings

November 2014:  Neurodevelopmental Techniques for Early Intervention, Hyannis and Taunton, MA

March 13-15, 2015: Co-Chair Profectum Third International Conference, Pasadena, CA

April 18, 2015: Parent Program at Harbor Regional Center, Torrance, CA.

April 27-28, 2015: Relationships Matter: About Building Connections, Project ABC Forum, Los Angeles, CA

November 5, 2015: Early Intervention: Neurodevelopmental Techniques for Challenging Behaviors, Parsippany, NJ

November 6, 2015: Early Intervention: Brain Based Techniques for Challenging Behaviors, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ

Griffin Doyle is a clinical psychologist in private practice treating children of all ages, adolescents, adults and couples. His work has focused for over twenty five years on the DIR® model and practice with developmentally delayed, regulatory and autism spectrum disordered children. He also consulted to the Milton and Ethel Harris Research Initiative at York University studying the effectiveness of the DIR® model intervention. As an expert witness on attachment/separation, early development and autism spectrum disorders he has served for over ten years in several jurisdictions throughout Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Dr. Doyle has been a faculty member of the DIR® model Training Institute Program since 2001, a member of the ICDL Advisory Board and a past faculty member (2007 – 2011) of the ICDL Doctoral Program in Infant Mental Health and Developmental Disorders. In addition, he has been a core faculty member for fifteen years and past Co-Chair of the Infant Mental Health Postgraduate Seminar Program at the Washington School of Psychiatry (Washington, DC). His published articles include the subjects of forgiveness, the internal world of the infant and in-depth book reviews on child development and neuro-relational treatment approaches to infants and children. In 2009, Dr. Doyle was cited through a randomized, peer survey conducted throughout the Washington, DC metro area by WASHINGTONIAN magazine as a regional expert clinician in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

Dr. Joshua Feder is a child and family psychiatrist with a clinical practice in Solana Beach, California. Associate Clinical Professor at University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, and Senior Expert with the Early Years. Dr. Feder conducts research and trains clinicians to promote regulation, social communication, and learning and he is engaged in peace building through support of early childhood development in conflict regions. Dr. Feder advocates nationally and internationally on issues related to peace building, informed consent, and evidence based practices, and he serves as Medical Director at SymPlay, developing interactive technology and distance learning systems to support relationship-based interventions. Dr. Feder is known as an engaging speaker and many of his lectures can be found online through joshuafedermd.com and circlestretch.com.

Caroline Ferguson-Walsh, MS-LP(C), CCC-SLP is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist and founder of BEAR Pediatric Speech & Language Therapy, based in Chicago, Illinois. Caroline is a member of the American Speech & Hearing Association (ASHA), Illinois Speech & Hearing Association (ISHA) and Speech-Language & Audiology Canada (SAC). She holds a position as a Faculty Member of Profectum Foundation and is a DIR-FCD™ Expert Clinician, Tutor and Trainer. Caroline is a presenter for the Early Intervention Training Program at the University of Illinois and is a credentialed instructor for conferences, trainings and professional certification courses through Profectum. She is committed to community outreach and provides local and regional trainings on supporting families of children with communication disorders.

Caroline has worked in a multitude of settings including pediatric hospitals, early childhood facilities, schools, homes and private practice in the United States, Canada and Ireland. Her clinical focus includes providing assessments and treatment to children with developmental delays, autism and disorders of relating and communicating. Her work is supported by her training in DIR-FCD™, Hanen It Takes Two to Talk® and the Sequential Oral Sensory (S.O.S) Approach to Feeding. She is dedicated to coaching and supporting families to be an integral part of the clinical team.

Gilbert M. Foley, Ed.D., IMH-E serves as Consulting Clinical Psychologist at the New York Center for Child Development (NYCCD) in New York City and Clinical Co- Director of the New York City Early Childhood Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC). He is Endorsed as an Infant Mental Health/ Clinical Mentor, Level IV and is a founding board member of the New York and Pennsylvania State Associations of Infant Mental Health. He is a senior faculty member of the DIR® Profectum Academy and core faculty member of the Psychodynamic Institute for Clinical Social work (Chicago). Dr Foley is a retired Associate Professor (tenured) of the School-Clinical Child Psychology Doctoral Program at Yeshiva University’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology and Director Emeritus of the Graduate Program in Infant Mental Health and Developmental Practice at Adelphi University. He served as Visiting Fellow at the Yale Child Study Center and was Director of Psychology in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Foley is the co-author of four books and has written over 50 scholarly articles and chapters. Linking Sensory Integration and Mental Health: Nurturing Self-Regulation in Infants and Young Children has just been published by National Zero to Three. Dr. Foley lectures widely nationally and internationally.

Profectum Senior Faculty Sima Gerber is a professor of speech-language pathology in the Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders of Queens College, City University of New York. Dr. Gerber has over 40 years of clinical experience, specializing in the treatment of children with autistic spectrum disorders. Dr. Gerber is on the faculty of Profectum and the Advisory Board of the New York Zero-to-Three Network. Dr. Gerber has presented nationally and abroad on the topics of language acquisition and developmental approaches to intervention for children with challenges in language development. Dr. Gerber is the recipient of the award for Outstanding Service to the field of speech-language pathology given by the New York City Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Louis DiCarlo Clinical Achievement Award from the New York State Association. Dr. Gerber has received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Steven Glazier is a Licensed Psychologist who has been working with individuals with developmental, emotional and behavioral challenges for over 30 years. Since 1995, he has been in private practice, specializing in treating neurodiverse children with a developmental, relationship-based approach. He sees children, adolescents and their families virtually and in his suburban Philadelphia office, consults in preschools/schools and trains/mentors multidisciplinary professionals in the DIR-FCD™ Model. Steven is one of the first certificate holders in the United States in PACT (Pediatric Autism Communication Therapy), an evidence-based, parent-mediated approach.
He is a Senior Faculty member of Profectum Academy and he is designated an “Expert Practitioner” by the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders. Steven has been on the faculty of Widener University’s Early Childhood Mental Health Program and many advisory boards. These include: The Philadelphia Early Intervention Autism Committee, The Delaware Valley Chapter of the World Association for Infant Mental Health and the Center for Autism.

I received my Advanced Certificate in School Psychology from Brooklyn College in 1972, my Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1977. Mt Ph.D. was in Special Education. I was then also licensed as a Psychologist in Michigan. I worked for five years as a teacher in a Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital in Michigan and when I received my Psychologist’s license, I moved into the Psychology Dept. in the Hospital and worked with severely acting out adolescents. I then helped develop an Early intervention Program in the hospital for preschoolers and led the program for two years. I also coordinated an NICU Level 3 follow-up team for two years in which we followed high risk premies from birth to five years. I started my private practice in 1982 and became involved with pediatric bipolar disorder at that time. I participated in a grant from the Harvard Dept of Psychiatry and Massachussets General Hospital for  about three years and began to specialize in that diagnosis, doing research, and publishing papers on pediatric bipolar disorder. By that time I met Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder and became involved with ICDL. Co-authored two books on mood disorders and pediatric bipolar disorder with Dr. Greenspan. When the Graduate School opened I taught with Dr. Greenspan and then became Academic Advisor of the program.

I have been in private practice since 1982 working primarily with emotionally dysregulated children and adolescents. I am still teaching in the Fielding Graduate University Infant and Early Childhood Program and for the last two years also teaching at Brooklyn College in New York in the Early Childhood/Arts Education Program. I developed and then co-taught a 12 credit Concentration at Fielding on Reflective Practice. I am now doing reflective practice/supervision with home visiting teachers and supervisors of the teachers in California, doing reflective practice with a law firm in Washington State, beginning a training project in Interoception in Michigan, and helping to develop an advanced certification program in early child development and reflective practice at Brooklyn College.

Jeannie Gutierrez, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist with over thirty years of clinical, research, teaching and consulting experience. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Chicago’s combined program in clinical/developmental psychology. Formerly on the faculties of the Erikson Institute and the Arizona School of Professional Psychology, she focused her teaching on her core expertise and passion for child development.

Jeannie undertook post-graduate training in the DIR® model through ICDL and became a certified DIR® therapist in an effort to better treat children with developmental differences and to support parents who are at the forefront of experiencing their children’s strengths and challenges . Today she is in full-time practice in Chicago where she treats children of all ages, consults to families, clinicians, schools and health-care practices.

Jeannie has mentored professionals working toward DIR® model certification. She especially enjoys her work mentoring young professionals and working in close consultation with occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. For over three years she has been a mental health consultant at Soaring Eagle Academy, a private school for children with special needs which incorporates the DIR® model into its treatment and educational milieu.

Jeannie is passionate about spending time with her husband and two young adult children. She relaxes by being an avid yoga practitioner and by cooking favorite family Mexican recipes.

Cindy Harrison is senior faculty with Profectum and the President and CEO of ACT Learning Centre a multi-disciplinary treatment center that provides speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and mental services to children with autism, developmental disorders and delays and their families. She is a speech-language pathologist, and her area of clinical focus is the provision of assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and adults with autism, disorders of relating and communicating, global developmental delays and their families and is a well-known public speaker who trains and educates clinicians and parents in North America and abroad. She holds a Master of Science in speech-language pathology from the University of Vermont and a post graduate certificate in the DIR® model. She is very active in her community and serves on several Boards and community associations.

Michele Havens received her Ed.D. degree from Rutgers University. She is currently a DIR®/Floortime Consultant to the Imagine Academy, an autism program in Brooklyn, NY.  This program uses both DIR® model and ABA methodologies with students with moderate to severe ASD. This ground-breaking program involves working with professionals across all disciplines and in close collaboration with the behaviorist.

Dr. Havens is Professor Emeritus from Kean University, Montclair State University and Daemen College. She is currently an advocate and private interventionist for children with special needs as a DIR-FCD™ model provider and a facilitator of an autism parent support group. Dr. Havens was previously the coordinator of the Verona, New Jersey Preschool Disabled Program, teaching 3 to 5-year-old students with special needs. She has been a teacher for 43 years and has taught courses both in person and online.

Michele received her DIR® model certification in 2010. She is a child-centered professional who integrates DIR-FCD™ model philosophy and practice with all of her clients, at school and at home. She is currently writing a book about collaborating with families with a physician who is the parent of young man with ASD. Dr. Havens is also the parent of an adult son with learning disabilities.

Jennifer Hein is the occupational therapy Supervisor and DIR® model Expert Clinician at Soaring Eagle Academy. As an occupational therapist for 18 years, she has worked in private practice and the school setting specializing working with children and families using the DIRFloortime® and sensory integration theoretical models. She is SIPT certified and has completed the DIR® model certification receiving trainer status through the Interdisciplinary Council of Development and Learning and Profectum Organization. She has served in a variety of leadership roles throughout her career including supervisor of program development, lead clinical supervisor, clinical director of a private practice as well as starting her own practice. In these roles, she has focused on developing programs to support caregiver-child interactions through incorporating innovative and unique occupational therapy interventions individualized to meet the needs of families. In addition to helping parents understand the unique and individual sensory and motor profiles of his/her child, Jennifer is passionate about teaching health care professionals and has supervised and mentored numerous professionals throughout her career. She has provided direct training, supervision and coaching to professionals including occupational therapy students, occupational therapists, teachers, mental health workers, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, and paraprofessionals. In addition, she has co-taught a class in Developmental Interventions at the Erikson Institute of Chicago. She has also presented numerous presentations throughout her career around Chicago and in the Washington, DC area. She was chosen to present a poster presentation at the World Federation of Occupational Therapy in Santiago, Chile in 2010.

Barbara Kalmanson has 40 years experience working with infants, children and their families, as well as with schools and agencies serving children environmentally and developmentally at risk . She is a founder of the Oak Hill School in San Anselmo, California, a developmental, relationship-based school for children and adolescents with autism spectrum and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Kalmanson has extensive experience as a clinical psychologist, a special educator, and an infant mental health specialist, including work with the Infant-Parent Program at the University of California in San Francisco; The San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, Child Development Program; California Pacific Medical Center, Child Development Center and in private practice in San Francisco and Marin County. She provides interdisciplinary consultation to schools and agencies nationwide and internationally. Dr. Kalmanson is the recipient of a FAR fund grant for the Kids Attuned website, promoting the importance of healthy relationships in infancy and early childhood. She teaches infant mental health at the Stella Maris Institute, the neuropsychiatric institute of the University of Pisa medical school. Dr. Kalmanson was the founding Academic Dean of the ICDL Graduate School, and senior faculty and for the Interdisciplinary Council on Learning & Developmental Disorders (ICDL). She’s served on multiple boards of directors including the Mayor’s Advisory Board on Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health in San Francisco, California. She received her doctorate in psychology and special education from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Kalmanson is a recipient of the Zero to Three: the National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families Harris Fellowship, The Frederic Burk Foundation for Education Fellowship and a National Institute of Mental Health Training grant. Her publications and presentations focus on early identification and treatment of autistic spectrum disorders, relationship-based intervention and the importance of family-provider relationships. Recent publications include: Infant Parent Psychotherapy for Early Indicators of Autism Spectrum Disorders:How We Know How to be with Others, In Bonovitz and Harlem (eds.), Therapeutic Action in Child Psychotherapy, (in press) Echoes in the Nursery: Insights for the Treatment of Early Signs of Autism in a Baby Sibling, Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, vol. 8, no.1,2009, and Autism Assessment and Intervention: the developmental individual difference, relationship-based DIR® model / Floortime model, with Serena Wieder and Stanley Greenspan, Zero to Three, March 2008.

Chithra has been practicing as a Speech Language therapist in Singapore for more than 26 years. She has worked in adult rehab, the children’s hospital and private practice. Her experience includes adult & geriatric neurology, neonatal care, congenital and developmental disorders. She is passionate about social pragmatic approaches and a developmental model to engaging and shaping the individual from within. This passion lead her to find ‘Connect and Communicate’ in 2013, a center dedicated to social communication.

She is Hanen™ certified in It Takes Two to Talk™ (1997), More Than Words™ (2003) and Talkability™ (2010) programs. She presented the inaugural More Than Words™ program in Singapore in 2003 and has conducted regular Hanen® parent training programs since. Chithra was introduced to Social Thinking® in 2005 and attended mentorship and training with the founder Michelle Garcia Winner in 2006 and 2008. She was invited to be a member of the Social Thinking® Training and Speakers Collaborative in 2012, and is their trainer for the region. She has presented on Social Thinking in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China.

In 2003, Chithra was introduced to DIR® Floortime™ and has pursued it since. She sought intensive mentoring in the model from senior faculty. She has presented to senior faculty at DIR® Institutes in the US. In 2012, she qualified as a DIR® Floortime™ Expert with ICDL. In 2013, she was in the inaugural DIR® Trainer program with Dr. Serena Wieder. Chithra is associate Profectum Faculty and has taught on their online professional certification program, as well as tutored professionals world-wide. She co-presented a DIR® workshop in Australia with Senior DIR® Faculty.  She has also presented several DIR-Floortime® trainings in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and India.

In her practice, Chithra works with kids as young as infants all the way to young adults and older. She works with a broad spectrum of functioning, from significantly challenged non-verbal to twice exceptional gifted individuals. Her diverse caseload has helped her appreciate development in all its colours and explore the application of DIR® across the lifespan. Chithra firmly believes our intervention will only be as effective as our understanding of the individual and his or her family support system. DIR® has helped inform, define and integrate all other approaches within her practice.

Bari Keller is a Pennsylvania and NYS Licensed Psychologist who began working with children and families in clinical and school settings in 2009. She received her PsyD in Clinical and School Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in 2014. Her expertise in early childhood stems from working in the New York City Early Intervention and Committee for Preschool Special Education systems. She also has a specialty in diagnosing and treating neurodevelopmental disorders of communicating and relating, including autism-spectrum disorders, and has worked in a variety of treatment settings. Dr. Keller is currently the Clinical Director of the Center for Autism in Philadelphia, PA. She is also Assistant Faculty at Profectum. Dr. Keller is a certified DIR®/Floortime provider through ICDL and a DIR®/Floortime Trainer through Profectum. She has received and continues to receive advanced training in the DIR® model, by expert clinicians in this field. Dr. Keller implements play therapy and psychotherapy, supervises psychologists and psychologists in training, as well as teaches to a broader range of professionals who work with children and adolescents.

Dr. Keller has provided consultation and workshops to staff and parents on topics ranging from child development, the impact of trauma, separation and transition, developing positive teacher-parent relationships, managing challenging behaviors and the importance of parent-child play. She is a certified trainer in the Incredible Years and Incredible Beginnings curriculum’s.

I am a child psychotherapist and developmental-behavioral consultant in private practice. I present and consult to groups nationally and internationally. I specialize in treating very young children and children of all ages with neuro-developmental challenges, such as Autism. I am endorsed as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (California) and am certified by the Profectum Foundation as a trainer of the Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR®) model and its Floortime® therapeutic technique. I consult regularly to other therapists, parents, and preschools and elementary schools. I frequently present on a variety of child development and mental health topics to clinical agencies. I am also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Smith College, School of Social Work. I worked previously as a preschool and elementary school teacher and as an early childhood mental health consultant. I received my clinical training at Infant-Parent Program, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, at the University of California, San Francisco. The Infant-Parent Program is a leader in the field of infant and early childhood mental health. I trained in each four of its treatment modalities: infant-parent psychotherapy, early childhood mental health consultation, developmental-therapeutic playgroup facilitation, and as a therapeutic shadow 1:1 aide. I have also taught D.I.R. theory and practice to several of its trainee cohorts. I received an MSW from Smith College, School for Social Work and an MS Ed from Bank Street College of Education.

Connie Lillas, Ph.D., MFT, RN, is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Training Institute with a background in high-risk maternal-child nursing, family systems, developmental psychoanalysis, and is a National Graduate ZERO TO THREE Fellow. Connie has a full-time private practice, specializing in dual diagnosis across both developmental delays and mental health concerns for birth-to-five-year-olds and their families. She donates her community service time to a pilot called Fostering Family Partnerships where she serves as a Court Team Liaison for child welfare reform in South Central Los Angeles. Her duties include training court personnel from judges to social workers to infant mental health specialists. In addition, she trains local, national, and international cross-sector communities on the use of the  Neurorelational Framework (NRF, 2009) as a common and unifying language that all sectors can use in an effort to decrease discipline-specific fragmentation and to increase cross-sector collaboration. Her book is a part of W. W. Norton’s Interpersonal Neurobiology Series.

Karen McDowell is an educator with over 25 years experience working with the adolescent and young adult population. She is an assistant faculty member of Profectum Foundation and strives to implement a comprehensive developmental curriculum into both her classroom environment and therapy work. As a lead teacher and Young Adult Program Coordinator at Celebrate the Children school for 13 years, she has contributed to innovative curriculum and strategies with the unique needs of individuals in mind while promoting opportunities for growth and development in both group and individual settings. Karen facilitates a weekly young adult group for several years with intensive focus on social and emotional strengths and challenges. Areas of interest and study include executive functioning, visual spatial processing, emotional regulation, and problem solving and she has provided workshops around the country on these developmental areas. Karen strives to provide programs that entice thinking, collaborative problem solving, effective communication, and positive coping strategies to support success, independence, meaningful and fulfilling experiences, and happiness within the demands of the 21st century.

Kristin graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina with a Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2000.  She practices in Seattle Washington at Cooper House, a clinic that specializes in supporting the development of infants, young children, and their families.  Here she joins forces with Licensed Mental Health clinicians through a comprehensive team approach.  She is endorsed by the Washington Association for Infant Mental Health as a level 3 Infant Mental Health Specialist.  She works with a variety of children and families blending the DIR® model with a trauma informed practice, and principles of Infant Mental Health into her work. Kristin joined the Profectum Faculty in 2016 and provides teaching and tutoring of the DIR® Model for the Profectum Foundation.  Kristin is passionate about supporting children and families and understanding the impact of trauma on early relationships.

Edi Nelson is an occupational therapist, specializing in development.  She earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from Boston University in 2001.  From her first day in pediatrics, she learned how to work with children and their families using the DIR® model as well as sensory integration. She has worked in a multitude of different settings, including private practice offices, schools, and client’s homes. Edi has many areas of interest in development but is particularly passionate about how to activate and support the affective system to drive all areas of function and integration. She is dedicated to parent education, coaching and support, as well as advocacy for the children and families with whom she works. Edi has been fortunate enough to be mentored by master DIR® model clinicians from varied fields and has always had a great love of learning.  This love continues as she thoroughly enjoys being a part of other practitioner’s journeys as an educator.

Celebrate the Children’s founder, Monica G. Osgood, is an experienced behavioral consultant and therapist who specializes in using developmental approaches to support children with autism and other differences in relating and communicating. She is also the Founder and Director of the Developmental Center for Children and Families (Limitless), a Board Member and founding member of the Profectum Foundation, and a Board Member and founding member of Celebrate the Individual (CTI). Monica has worked in homes, therapy centers, and private and public school settings for over 20 years. Some of her experience has included assessment and the development of intervention programs, curriculum and IEP development, and parent and professional training.

In 1998, Monica created the first public school program with the Developmental Individual Relationship-based (DIR model) approach as the core philosophy. ​In 2000, she was the first educator to join the senior faculty of the Interdisciplinary Council on Development and Learning(ICDL) to provide interdisciplinary training in the DIR model. During her time with ICDL, Monica served as faculty for all of their yearly training institutes, spoke at many of their conferences and had the opportunity to work closely and collaborate with Drs. Greenspan and Wieder to further develop the DIR model in school settings. ​In 2004, she collaborated with Lauren Blaszak to open a state-approved, DIR model school for children ages 3-21 in Denville, New Jersey, now serving over 70 school districts and 150 families.

Additional accomplishments include, many speaking engagements at conferences and participation in television, radio and newspaper interviews across the USA, Wales, Ireland and Amsterdam. Monica has appeared on Welsh Channel 4 and BBC1 documentaries, sharing the DIR model approach with British parents and professionals. Monica and the Celebrate the Children school were featured in a TIME Magazine cover story in May of 2006. ​She serves on the Advisory Board for 3LPlace and the National Advisory Council for The Centers for Exceptional Children​.  Monica also serves on the Economic Development Advisory Council and the Sustainable Economic Development Plan Steering Committee for her local Town Council. Finally, she collaborated with twice Grammy nominated children’s artists Dan Myers and Brady Rymer on an album and music video celebrating diversity in children with all abilities released April 2011.

Beth Osten, MS, PhD, OTR/L is a lifelong clinician with interests in consultation and research. She is Chief Clinical Advisor at Positive Development, a DRBI autism services company. Beth speaks internationally on DRBI, autism, sensory processing, regulatory disorders, interpersonal connectedness, and parent-mediated intervention. She is recognized as an expert training leader for DIR/Floortime® and co-authored of the Test of Infant Motor Performance. Beth’s Ph.D. is in Infant and Early Childhood Development with an emphasis on infant mental health and developmental disorders. Her research is on the validity of an assessment of interpersonal connectedness, which was used to understand mother-child interaction better.

Michele is an occupational therapist, specializing in working with children with autism and sensory processing disorder. She currently works with children and families at her private practice – Great Kids Place – in Rockaway, New Jersey. She has been using and learning the DIR® model for over ten years in her work at Celebrate the Children school. She is a fellow of Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, OTR and faculty of both Profectum and Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation. Michele is DIR® model and SIPT certified with advanced training in visual spatial capacities. She started her therapy career providing consultation to public school districts on infusing sensory integration, visual spatial, and DIR® model goals throughout daily activities and curriculum. She co-developed a unique handwriting program – Connect Experience Write® – that highlights the importance of affective engagement in learning as well as sensory integration using music and movement to teach letter formation and pre-writing skills. Michele is passionate about working with families and other therapists and she continues to do so as a clinician and educator.

Stephanie Pass is a clinical psychologist and infant mental health specialist in private practice in San Francisco. Dr. Pass has over 25 years of clinical experience. She has trained and presented widely at various organizations including the Infant-Parent Program of UCSF, the Access Institute, the Infant Development Association and the International Neuropsychoanalysis Congress. She consults on the DIR® model and on infant and child mental health for agencies and school districts throughout California. Dr. Pass specializes in the treatment of children with neurodevelopmental disorders and infant-parent psychotherapy, as well as play therapy, and has a particular interest in symbolic development and in children’s literature. She is on the faculty of Profectum and the Interdisciplinary Council of Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) and is a member of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and the Northern California Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Dr. Lori Jeanne Peloquin is a Clinical Psychologist specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorders.  She received her PhD from the University of Rochester and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatrics and Developmental Disabilities at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry where she also holds joint community faculty appointments in Psychiatry and Pediatrics.

For over 30 years, Dr. Peloquin has treated individuals with developmental and learning disorders and their families, focusing on children, teens and young adults with Anxiety, Regulatory, Sensory Processing, Developmental and Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has given workshops on such themes as Sexuality and Autism, Autism and Anxiety, and How to Tell your Child about Having Autism Spectrum Disorder. She also mentors professionals in Mental health, Occupational, Music and Speech Language therapies, and allied fields.

Dr. Peloquin has been on the faculty of the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders since its inception and was one of the first to receive a DIR®/Floortime Model Certificate from them.  She has been on the senior faculty of Profectum since 2011 when it began. Her writings include articles in the Autism-Asperger’s Digest on the DIR®/Floortime Model. She was recognized as Outstanding Psychologist of the Year by the Genesee Valley Psychological Association for her leadership and contributions to the community.

Dr. Peloquin is married with two children and has a private practice in Rochester, NY.

Michele is a licensed speech and language pathologist, who works primarily with children diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. She has been in private practice since 1997 and worked in an early childhood school setting prior to that.

Michele has consulted in many public school districts in Illinois and is one of three founders of a private school (Soaring Eagle Academy) for children with special needs that uses developmental language intervention and incorporates the DIR® model into its academic programming. Soaring Eagle Academy provides integrated programming to meet each child’s unique needs.

Michele has a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1995). She also holds an undergraduate degree in communicative disorders from University of the Pacific in Stockton, California (1993).

Michele is also a mother of three children and has learned the most about development and language acquisition through her interactions and experience as a parent.

Ricki Robinson, MD, MPH. is co-director of Descanso Medical Center for Development and Learning in La Canada, California and a clinical professor of pediatrics at the Keck School Medicine of USC. She has been in private pediatric practice for nearly forty years, specializing in children with autism and developmental delays for over twenty-five years.

Dr. Robinson received her MD degree in 1973 from the University of Southern California. She trained in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, having served as Chief Pediatric Resident for CHLA in 1976. She is board certified in pediatrics. In 1988 she received her MPH from the University at Berkeley School of Public Health.

She has been actively involved in the field of autism since 1990, developing multidisciplinary educational and medical programs for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and devoting endless hours in education, legislation and research efforts on a national level. Dr. Robinson has been at the forefront of leading grassroots autism organizations. She was a founding board member of Cure Autism Now (now Autism Speaks) and the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL), and most recently Profectum Foundation. She was a member of the Autism Speaks Scientific Review Panel for over eight years. Dr. Robinson organized and chaired the first nationally recognized task force to define the standard of care for clinical trials in autism. The results of this outstanding effort were published in CNS Spectrums (January 2004, Vol. 9, #1). Most recently she was appointed as Medical Director of Profectum Foundation, an organization devoted to providing multi-disciplinary education and training for parents, families and professionals working with individuals with ASD across the lifespan.

A nationally sought-after expert, she has appeared on the Today Show, The Talk, Larry King Live and Good Morning America Health in support of the needs of children and families with autism spectrum disorders. She is an internationally recognized speaker addressing the needs of children with autism and other developmental delays to parent, professional and lay audiences worldwide for the past two decades. She is also the author of the acclaimed book Autism Solutions – How to Create a Healthy and Meaningful Life for Your Child. 

Stacy, a hometown girl, loved to play with children and was drawn to finding strengths in those of all abilities since she was a little girl. These qualities led her to the University of Pittsburgh in hopes of becoming a pediatric occupational therapist.

With 25 years as an occupational therapist, she has nationwide pediatric experience in a variety of settings where she learned from accomplished colleagues in Sensory Integration and Neuro-developmental Treatment. She holds certifications in Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests, Therapeutic Listening, Interactive Metronome and Integrated Listening Systems.

Stacy has studied and applied the DIR® Model in her work with children and families for over 15 years. She enjoys training and mentoring for Profectum by sharing the simple joys of interactions to the complex intricacies of the model with other professionals. Stacy also presents nationally on the importance of family-centered therapy and relationship-based work and helps others recognize the need for a strong mental health component and reflective practice to effectively support children and families.

She is the co-author with Dr. DeLana Honaker OTR, FAOTA and Ruby Salazar LCSW, BCD to the chapter Putting Families First: Family Occupations and Family-Centered Therapy in the recent Foundations for Pediatric Practice for the OTA. Also, she published her research on the semi-structured interview and assessment Family LIFE (Looking Into Family Experiences) in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy. Her research and graduate studies at Texas Woman’s University on families and children paved the way for her growing private practice, Embrace the Child, Ltd. Barbara Corcoran of the acclaimed The Corcoran Group and ABC television’s, Shark Tank, identified Stacy’s passion as the cornerstone for success in her business to serve the children and families of Pittsburgh and beyond.

In her practice, Stacy uses the DIR-FCD™ Model and her own Family-Centered Therapy Model across settings to richly improve quality of life for children and families.

Ruby Moye Salazar is a child and family consultant and developmental therapist as well as an internationally recognized expert in early childhood development and autism.

Mrs. Salazar founded Pennsylvania Lifespan Services in 1980, a family-focused trans-displinary developmental practice providing psycho-social-developmental services for children and families.

She has worked in the office of three PA governors in child-care policy, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Council for Children and the PA Department of Welfare Workgroup to establish Autism Assessment Policy and clinically directed both the ASD Comprehensive Assessment  Project and  the PA Department of Early Intervention Reflective Supervision Project. Proudly, Mrs. Salazar chaired then-candidate Barack Obama’s first Autism Workgroup who drafted the bill which became ASD Federal Law.

Mrs. Salazar has received many professional awards, among them the inaugural Sally Provence Award for excellence in infant and family practice from Zero to Three,  Girl Scouts of America  Professional of the Year award and National Guidance Counselors Association Professional Excellence award, all received in her hometown of Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Salazar is currently adjunct professor at Commonwealth Medical School and founding member and senior faculty at Profectum Academy, providing individual and group reflective supervision and consultation in leadership and organizational development to mental health non-profits and private practice organizations.

At home, she delights in her family, including her husband of 46 years, four children and four grandchildren. Ruby enjoys reading biographies and just about anything on the USA’s Founding Fathers.

Visit Ruby’s Website for More Information

https://www.rubymoyesalazar.com/

Diane has been a faculty member of the DIR® model summer institute since 2002. In addition to her private practice, she is the mental health consultant and supervisor of the mental health department at Beth Osten and Associates, a multidisciplinary DIR® model pediatric clinic. The mental health program includes DIR® model coaching, individual therapy (children, adolescent and adults), family therapy and multidisciplinary group therapy. She has also helped develop and continues to supervise the Penguin Playgroup Program, a DIR® model therapeutic playgroup program for preschool and kindergarten aged children at Beth Osten and Associates, as well as a practicum program for mental health graduate students. She provides individual and group (multidisciplinary and mental health) supervision to therapists within the clinic, as well as to many candidates within the DIR® model certificate program. She is also the mental health consultant and supervisor at Soaring Eagle Academy, the DIR® model school in Illinois for children on the autistic spectrum. Thus, in addition to DIR® model intervention and psychotherapy, she has a strong interest in organizing, developing and working in therapeutic milieus for children and families. Prior to her involvement with the DIR® model, she worked in various psychodynamic and developmental schools and programs. She has presented workshops at the ICDL November conference, as well as at various clinics, parent groups and schools.

Chris Seminaro is an instructional coach for students with autism spectrum disorders in a large suburban public school system near Chicago, Illinois. She has 30 years of teaching and administrative experience specializing in working with families and students with ASD. Chris has presented nationally on development, assessment, intervention, working with families as part of the school system and educating students with autism spectrum disorders. She has presented at the International Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) International Conferences on the topic of the DIR® model in public school systems. Chris has been on the faculty of the DIR® model Training Institute and is on the faculty of Profectum.

Treating children presenting with autistic syndrome spectrum communicative difficulties, counseling family members and staff involved in child’s treatment.

Private and group supervision of professionals working with children with communication disorders.

Workshops for multidisciplinary professionals seeking certification and specialization of the the DIR® model approach.

Jehan is the owner, director and senior clinician with Clinical Communication Consultants for over 15 years. A private practice overseeing for the last 10 years preschoolers and early school aged children diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders and described with oral-motor speech and language disorders, social interaction and communication skill difficulties.

Jehan received her BA in Psychology with Honours from Cairo American University in 1972 and her CCC from Ain Shams Medical University; Unite of Phoniatrics and Communication Disorders in 1985.

She was affiliated with the Speech and Stuttering Institute, earlier known as the Speech Foundation of Ontario, Toronto Children’s Centre for Oral-Motor Speech Disorders from 1990 to 1999.

Jehan is member of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologist of Ontario and a long-standing and active member of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, IALP, Zurich since 1986 and Ontario association for Families of Children with Communication Disorders O. A. F. C. C. D since 1997.

Susan Smith-Foley, OTD, MPA, OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist who specializes in family-centered and school-based O.T. / DIR-FCD™ services. She is passionate about supporting the integration of the DIR-FCD™ model into public schools including working with multi-disciplinary teams and primary caregivers. Susan completed a post-professional doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy (OTD) at The University of Kansas Medical Center in December 2018. She is the founder and owner of Avon Occupational Therapy, Inc. located in Avon, NJ. Susan is an Senior Faculty member of Profectum Academy and a member of its International O.T. Working Group.

Richard Solomon, MD, is a practicing developmental and behavioral pediatrician, the Medical Director at The Ann Arbor Center for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and founder of The PLAY Project. He is board certified in pediatrics and developmental and behavioral pediatrics and has been diagnosing and treating children with autism spectrum disorders for over 25 years. With a reputation as the “fun” doctor, Rick is known for his ability to make children smile and laugh, calming their fears and building trust. His overall approach is influenced by his work alongside autism and child development visionaries T. Berry Brazelton MD, Stanley Greenspan MD, and Mr. Fred Rogers.

In 2001, Dr. Rick developed the PLAY Project in response to the need for evidenced-based autism intervention options and from 2009-2012 was the principle investigator of one of the largest autism intervention research studies in the U.S., with the results published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. The PLAY Project’s mission is to train a national network of pediatric professionals to deliver an evidence-based, low-cost, intensive, developmental intervention to families of young children with autism spectrum disorders. To that end, Dr. Solomon has trained 500+ pediatric professionals from 30 U.S. states and 7 countries to become certified PLAY Project Consultants. This year, Dr. Solomon published his book Autism: The Potential Within, The PLAY Project Approach for Children with Autism.

Dr. Swink’s three decades of clinical work, research and teaching has been devoted to children with special needs and their families since starting her pediatric training at the University of California, San Francisco and pediatric neurology/epilepsy residency and fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

Dr. Swink was introduced to the DIR® model in 2003 and since completing her DIR FLoortime® Institute Certificate in 2009, has been integrating principles of the DIR®/FCD model into her work with children and families. Dr. Swink’s clinical practice focuses on young children with regulatory challenges, sensory based motor disorders, communication disorders and autism spectrum and related disorders.

At the Child Development Center at Marshfield Medical Center, Dr. Swink leads a multi-disciplinary team working to identify, understand and treat complex neuro-developmental disorders.  Dr. Swink’s team strives to integrate the complexities of early development, individual differences and relationships into the assessment and treatment process of every child and family and to promote lasting and positive growth and change. Dr. Swink provides supervision and training to clinicians throughout the Marshfield Medical Center and the Marshfield Clinic pediatric residency training program.

Dr. Swink received her DIR Floortime® certificate in 2009 and joined the senior faculty at the Profectum Academy in 2014. Over her career as a pediatrician, neurologist and developmental specialist, Dr. Swink has presented at numerous local and national pediatric, neurologic and developmental conferences and is currently teaching at the Profectum Academy.

Dr. Tortora is a board certified dance movement therapist, Laban Nonverbal Movement Analyst, and specialist in the field of infancy mental health and development. Her expertise in early childhood development and the importance of early relationships inform her psychotherapeutic work across the life span. Dr. Tortora has a private dance movement psychotherapy practice, in New York City and Cold Spring-on-the-Hudson, New York. Dr. Tortora offers training programs and lectures about her dance therapy and nonverbal video analysis work with infants, children and families, at national and international professional meetings and universities.

She is on the board of the New York Zero-to-Three Network.

Dr Tortora has been featured on “Good Morning America” and Eyewitness Five-O’Clock News, WABC –TV; Women’s Day magazine; highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker article and book titled What the Dog Saw and other adventures; has published numerous papers about her therapeutic and nonverbal communication analysis work with children, parent-infant dyads, and Autism Spectrum Disorders; has twice been guest editor of the Zero to Three Journal; and has a book with Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company titled The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children.

Dr. Tortora graduated with honors from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University specializing in child development, education and psychology; received her dance movement therapy masters degree at New York University; and her doctorate with a specialization in infancy/early childhood development, psychology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

She has done extensive study and training in the field of infancy and early childhood research, development, education, communication and intervention through the Zero to Three Institute and Dr. Stanley Greenspan. She has studied Authentic Movement with Janet Adler & Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. Dr Tortora is also a certified Laban Movement Analyst, and Kestenberg Movement Profiler.

Suzi practices at both the Cold Spring and New York City offices.

Dr. Alisa Vig is a clinical psychologist who has practiced the DIR® model for over 15 years in Israel and in the US. She did her pre and post doctoral internship with babies, young children and their families in the San Francisco area and taught at Palo Alto University. She completed her DIR® model certificate under Dr. Serena Wieder and became one of the founders and co-directed the Israeli DIR® model organization until 2013, and now serves on their advisory board. She is also a faculty member of Profectum and DIR® Model Israel.

Dr. Vig is the Founder and Director of Simaney Kesher Center, a multidisciplinary clinic in Israel treating babies, children, and adolescents with neurodevelopmental emotional and behavioral difficulties and their families. She has provided training programs in the DIR® model to different organizations and supervises interdisciplinary professionals. Recent publications include chapters describing DIR® principles and focus on inclusion in the DIR® model.

Christie Virtue, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and a senior faculty member for Profectum. She received her Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University. For over 20 years she was the Director of Early Intervention and Preschool Services for Hudson River HealthCare in Peekskill, N.Y., which provided multidisciplinary assessments and treatment of children birth through five. Prior to her work with young children she was the Co-Director of the Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program at Montefiore Hospital/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She currently has a private practice in Northern Westchester specializing in the assessment of children with neurodevelopmental challenges.

Kathy Walmsley was the Director and Senior Occupational Therapist with Sensory Connections OTS in Perth, Australia for 17 years up until early 2021. She now works with Early Start Australia who acquired Sensory Connections and additionally in her own private practice in the area of training and parent support. Kathy was awarded a Bachelor of Applied Science in occupational therapy 1983. She completed a graduate certificate in community counseling in 1993, has done post graduate training in developmental disabilities and infant mental health and has worked in a wide variety of different clinical areas over her nearly 40 years of clinical practice. Over the past twenty five years her specialization has been working with families with children with autistic spectrum disorders and sensory regulatory processing disorders using a developmental and relationship based approach. Kathy completed her DIR® model certificate training in 2006, is international faculty of the DIR® model training institute. She has co-presented introductory level DIR® model trainings both in Australia and internationally since 1997.

Jeanne White, LMFT co-established company and ongoing contract with Tri-Counties Regional Center in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties since 2007. The Center for Developmental Play and Learning (CDPL) provides services to special needs children and their families using a developmental model of intervention called the Developmental, Individual-difference, Relationship-based model or DIR®. In role as Co-Director, provide direct service to ongoing caseload each week, including both home and center-based visits and services are in both English and Spanish. Co-lead two children’s groups, organize and lead group process. Provide DIR® coaching to families present in all sessions, including case management support, parent meetings, parent night group education and quarterly reports on their child’s progress. Supervise staff on their cases. As Co-director involved in planning and execution of all facets of CDPL including: compliance with all state and regional center guidelines for operation; management of employee issues; development of CDPL policy guidelines; support and planning of clinical training program; day to day administrative tasks; ongoing clinical and case management issues for caseload as well as caseload other clinical staff; presenter for local training events on the DIR® model and at CDPL parent nights. Co-organize community events at CDPL Center. Company website: www.developmentalplayandlearning.com

Noemi White is a Hungarian-Swiss who grew up in France, Austria, South Korea and Switzerland before moving to Barbados in 2000. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Psychology and, for a couple of years, worked as a counsellor with women and children at the local shelter for battered women.

In 2009, Noemi began working at the Sunshine Early Stimulation Centre, a DIR®-informed centre catering to children with neurodevelopmental challenges from one to eleven years of age. As Family Services Counsellor, Noemi aims to support the families’ journey by offering parent support groups, educational workshops, individual or family counseling and home visits, by liaising between the classroom and homes, and providing parent-mediated Floortime sessions.

Noemi is a member of the Barbados Society of Psychology and has in the past functioned in the roles of, in turn, Secretary, Chair of the Professional Development Committee and President. She has completed the Professional, Fellows and Trainers Certificate Program with Profectum, and is currently an Assistant Faculty Member.

Noemi is happily married and has two teenage daughters.

Rosemary White has been an occupational therapist since 1972 and brings a wealth of clinical experience to every workshop she teaches throughout the United States and internationally in Canada, Europe, South Africa, Uganda and Australia. Rosemary is a true clinician’s clinician! Rosemary received her neurodevelopmental therapy training in London with the Bobaths, her sensory integrative therapy training in Los Angeles with Dr. A Jean Ayres and her training in the DIRFloortime® model with Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder, Ph.D. and the Faculty of ICDL. She currently owns and operates Pediatric Physical and Occupational Therapy Services in Seattle, Washington. Rosemary has her certificate in the DIR® model and has been senior faculty on the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disabilities (ICDL) chaired by Stanley Greenspan, M.D. and Serena Wieder, Ph.D., since 2002. Rosemary is on the clinical faculty at the University of Washington in the School of Nursing Infant Mental Health Certificate Program. Rosemary is also faculty in the ICDL Graduate School in the Ph.D. in infant and early childhood mental health and developmental disorders. This is an on-line Ph.D. program providing education to professionals throughout the world. Rosemary is also Profectum Foundation Faculty.

Dr. Serena Wieder is the Clinical Director and a founding member of the Profectum Foundation, dedicated to advancing the development and mental health of children, of all ages, including adolescents and adults with neurodivergent development and emotional challenges through interdisciplinary training and educational programs. She also co-founded the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders and was a Board Member of Zero to Three for 23 years. Dr. Wieder serves on various advisory boards to various programs serving infant mental health and other special needs.  Dr. Wieder also founded DIR-Israel, a training program that offers DIR Certificates, and provides consultation and training to many international and national programs.

As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Wieder has pioneered important approaches to diagnosing and treating infants and toddlers with infant mental health and developmental disorders.  She co-created the DIR Model with Stanley Greenspan, edited two diagnostic manuals for infants and young children. Further, she created models for interdisciplinary post-graduate case based training and pioneered parent-mediated intervention for parents of neurodivergent children.

Dr. Wieder has co-chaired and organized national and international conferences integrating development, neuroscience and intervention approaches for over 20 years. Dr. Wieder also developed approaches to integrate visual-spatial knowledge to advance emotional and cognitive development.  Her research interests concern follow up studies of children on the autism spectrum who received DIR model interventions and the evaluation of training and educational programs. In addition, she serves as adjunct faculty at various universities including Bank Street , UCS Davis IMH Fellowship Program, and Adelphi.

Amongst her many publications Dr. Wieder co-authored Engaging Autism, The Child With Special Needs and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health with Stanley Greenspan, M.D. They also co-edited Infants in Multi-Risk Families as well as the ICDL Diagnostic Manual for Infants and Young Children (DMIC)/ She edited the original Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC 0-3) for Zero-Three. . Her chapters on the DIR Model appear in major textbooks on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Dr. Wieder also co- authored Visual Spatial Portals to Thinking, Feeling, and Movement with Harry Wachs, O.D. She has published numerous journal and book chapters and presents at multiple conferences nationally and internationally.

At this time, Dr. Serena Wieder also has a private practice in NYC for diagnosis, treatment and consultation regarding complex developmental and mental health challenges.