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My experience as a student was challenging due to having undiagnosed ADHD.  I was told that I was bright, but no one could understand why I struggled so to understand Algebra or complete assignments on time. Convinced that I could never succeed at higher education, I avoided college after high school.

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Nevertheless, my professional history has been rooted in working with neurodiverse children.  I have worked as a special education paraprofessional, as a care worker in a residential treatment facility for children with behavioral challenges, and as a treatment foster parent. I finally took a chance on college as an adult and studied Human Development and Family Studies at the Ohio State University.

 

For the past 6 years, I have been employed at the East Bay School for Boys, where my work with middle school students inspired me to pursue a Master's degree in Educational Therapy at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA.  My role as the Learning Specialist at EBSB has been incredibly rewarding and I am now thrilled to continue this work through my Educational Therapy practice. 

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I do this work because I get great satisfaction from seeing students improve; not only in relationship to their academic abilities, but in regard to their self-confidence and ideas of themselves as learners. My own past schooling struggles, coupled with my experience as the parent of a neurodiverse learner, inform my empathetic and enthusiastic approach and my belief that all students are able to learn. 

My Approach to the Work

Operating from a perspective that values neurodiversity, we will explore your learner's unique learning profile to develop strategies of support tailored to their needs. 

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In a one-to-one setting, we can take the time needed to engage with content in order to allow for true processing of information.  We will explore formats that allow your learner to make meaning of new information and implement systems of organization that support the development of future independence and confidence. 

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Ultimately, my goal is to assist each client in understanding their learning needs. Building on this understanding, we will work to develop confidence in their abilities as they build new skills along the way.

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By taking the time to develop relationships with my students, learning who they are as young people and developing strategies that rely upon their strengths to support areas of challenge, I "meet them where they are" and then work to increase their skills and confidence, and provide them the language to understand their needs as learners and develop skills for self-advocacy.

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