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Today we had the pleasure of talking with a wonderfully dynamic woman, Alicia Braccia, administrator and founder of the Center for Health, Learning and Achievement.Alicia Braccia is a Florida Licensed School Psychologist who received her Masters Degree and Certificate of Advanced Study in School Psychology at Fairfield University, in Connecticut. Prior to moving to Florida and forming the Center for Health, Learning and Achievement’s multi-disciplinary team, she was a Teacher, Peer Supervisor and School Psychologist in the New York Public School System. Mrs. Braccia brings over 16 years of experience as a Certified Teacher and School Psychologist from Preschool through 12th grade.
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 012: A Diverse Education for your Child with Learning Differences’
We had the pleasure of talking with Milaura Spelman. Miluara provides individualized reading remediation and reading evaluations, and speech and language therapy. She is a certified WILSON Reading instructor. The WILSON program is a systematic and explicit method of reading instruction using multi-sensory strategies, often used for children with dyslexia. She has over 15 years of experience as a speech/language pathologist and as a teacher of students with learning disabilities.
Miluara is a wealth of information! We asked her the following questions:
What signs should a parent look for to know if their child is delayed and needs reading intervention?
Where does a parent start if they suspect their child has a reading issue?
Are there any medical problems that should be investigated prior to starting reading therapy?
What therapies do you do?
How long does therapy last?
What can parents do at home to encourage reading?
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 011: Effective Reading Intervention’
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ashley Chapman MA, CCC-SLP with Chapman and Associates Therapy Solutions, located in Oviedo FL. She talked with us about the wonderful services they offer highlighting their Pediatric Feeding & Swallowing (PFS) Program. We asked Ashley to share with us some of the causes of feeding disorders in children, the different treatment options and how to obtain these services for your child.
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 010: Pediatric Feeding Program’
We had the pleasure of talking with Carmen McGuinness. She is the one of the founders of the Read America program and a developer of the Phono-Graphix® and Lanugage Wise™ programs with 23 years experience in advocating for cognitive therapies for educationally challenged children with special needs. She opened a center in Longwood, Florida called the Praxis Education Center and Chrysalis School. The Praxis Education Center is an answer to the after school educational needs of children with a variety of special needs. They work with many children on the autism spectrum, with attentional issues, and children with retrieval and memory problems. They also have a morning class and school day program called the Chrysalis School for children not doing well in public and alternative private school programs. Many programs are utilized at the Praxis Education Center and Chrysalis School including:
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 009: Floortime for Autism and Related Disorders’
Today our special guest is LeeAnn Atkinson with Florida Pediatric Associates (FPA). Lee Ann is a Registered Nurse with pediatric ICU experience and is the office manager for the practice. Dr. Ben Guedes established the practice in 1987 which is thriving and caring for medically complex children in Central Florida. He developed the 24 hr pediatric emergency transport team at Florida Hospital, and is the medical director of many programs locally.
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 008: A pediatric office for your Medically Complex Child’
It is always a joy to talk with businesses that offer services for our children and today on our show we have ABC School House Co-Founder and Director, Bobbi Barber. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Together with Hyndi Khomutetsky, also Co-Founder, they have 18 years experience in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis. They both have backgrounds in the public school system, in-home private therapy, out-patient treatment centers and residential facilities. ABC School House was founded on the principle that not every child learns in the same way. The program is unique in that the Individual Learning Plans and Behavior Intervention Plans are developed by Behavior Analysts and supervised Behavior Therapists.
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 007:Interview with Bobbi Barber, Co-founder of ABC School House, a Center for Children with Autism and Related Disorders’
We had the pleasure of talking with Linda Brown. Linda is an Occupational Therapist who has worked with medically fragile children for over fifteen years. She is the owner of BrightStart Pediatrics and creator of the BrightStart program that meets the medical, developmental and social needs of the children they serve.
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 006: A BrightStart for Medically Fragile Children’
We had the pleasure of talking with Sandy Wainman. Sandy is an Occupational Therapist and co-founder of LifeSkills, the first clinic specializing in Sensory Integration in the metropolitan Orlando area.
1. What is the definition of Sensory Integration and Sensory Processing Disorder? “It is a difficulty experienced by very good, intelligent children. It definitely has nothing to do with intelligence. Sometimes it looks like the kids aren’t trying because they get frustrated and it is hard to see why they act like they do. Sensory processing is when the intelligence is not getting the information that should be coming in that they really need about their bodies, what they need to make their bodies feel comfortable and ready to work. And it’s something you can’t see because you only know what their intelligence is. Sometimes we can see it in an infant when the child is sensitive to touch or being held. Some kids put their fingers in their ears or are very clingy. Children have a hard time sitting still, they fidget, move around and they just never stop moving. Some are picky eaters. So when we see this we see that sometimes the child isn’t as functional as we would expect them to be. If the child’s processing is not happening then it looks like there is a real discrepancy between what you expect them to do and what they do.”
Continue reading ‘Bright Feats Show 005: Helping your Child with Sensory Processing Disorder’
We continue our interview with Pam Lindemann. Pam has been advocating for children with special needs for over 10 years and is the founder of an organization called Panda for Parents. Panda for Parents helps parents get what they need in the public school system. Through Panda for Parents, Pam offers a free support group for parents. The support group meets the last Friday of each month and allows parents to help each other and learn how to best advocate for their child in the school system. Following is a conclusion of our conversation with Pam.
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We interviewed a wonderful mom with two children with special needs, Pam Lindemann. She has been advocating for her with children with special needs for over 10 years and is the founder of an organization called Panda for Parents. Panda for Parents helps parents get what they need in the public school system. Through Panda for Parents, Pam offers a free support group for parents. The support group meets the last Friday of the month and allows parents to help each other and learn how to best advocate for their children in the school system. Following is a question and answer summary of our conversation with Pam.
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