Coaching Parents

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/Floortime model, with Serena Wieder and Stanley Greenspan, Zero to Three, March 2008.

Ruby Salazar is a child and family psychotherapist who has worked with children and families for over forty years. She is the Founder and Director of Pennsylvania Lifespan Services, a family-focused practice of developmental and mental health professionals with offices in Clarks Summit and Narberth, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Lifespan Services has nationally lead excellent care and provided services for many since 1982. Mrs. Salazar received a BS from New York University and MSS from Smith College, followed by a post graduate psychoanalytic certificate in the treatment of children from the Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Institute, New York City. Having practiced, consulted, published, lectured, and trained with a focus on developmental and family care, and taught at Columbia University, Marywood University, Keystone College and ICDL Graduate School, she currently is on the faculties of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Medical School, Fielding University, Profectum Academy (and was a founding member), The Infant-Parent Mental Health Post-Graduate Certificate Fellowship Program at UMass Napa. Mrs. Salazar is PA Touchpoints site coordinator, having co-founded, the first medical Touchpoints program. She worked in the office of three PA governors as a child-care consultant and was appointed to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Council for Children. Mrs. Salazar was also appointed to 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 candidate Obama’s first Autism Workgroup who drafted the bill which became ASD Federal Law. Mrs. Salazar has received many professional awards, among them the first Sally Provence Award for excellence in infant and family practice from Zero to Three, National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, Girl Scouts of America Professional of the Year award and National Guidance Counselors Association Professional Excellence award, all Washington, D.C.