About Jennifer
Your Dilemmas
How does anybody do this?
It’s hard – no, hard doesn’t even begin to describe it. And no two children are alike. What worked with your first one does exactly the opposite with the next.
How do you know what to do? What to say? And when to say it?
You’ve tried everything. Asking? Forget it. Explaining? You’ve reasoned until you’re blue in the face.
You’re frustrated. Exhausted. Worried. Out of options, ideas, patience. But you won’t give up. You can’t. It’s your child.
No question – parenting is CHALLENGING.
My goal is to help you find more ease within the challenge. To work with your child’s mind and natural tendencies, rather than against them.
More of a downhill ride, less uphill.
How to do that isn’t always obvious, but I can show you.
Sometimes, what seems logical… isn’t.
For example, people say that talking is one of the most important things you can do to help a child develop.
But guess what? Too much talking can be too much of a good thing. In reality, when you need something done, explaining, reminding, reasoning, pleading, or cajoling may work against you.
These strategies may actually distract your child from the task at hand! Staying quiet and present can be way more efficient and effective.
I must be joking, right?
What does staying “quiet and present” look like with a two-year-old, compared to a five-year-old or a ten-year-old?
And what about a child who has mixed-age abilities?
Completely different, right?
General advice has its limits.
You need solutions specifically tailored for your child and you!
So, what does work?
In this particular example, it might be a question of how close you stand, where you focus your gaze, and what simple actions and gestures you’re using that can set your child in motion.
It might mean quieting critical voices in your own mind – and calming your emotions deep inside.
It might require some preparation work with your child before the moment at hand.
These are simple – but powerful – elements that can make the situation easier. And that’s just the beginning.
I can help.
As a young daycare teacher, I read an article about patience vs. understanding. The premise was that you don’t have to be a naturally patient person to work well with children. Instead, curiosity and understanding about a child’s mind will give you the measure of patience you need.
A-ha! While I wasn’t particularly patient, I loved watching children play and develop new abilities and try to understand themselves – who they were and what they were about.
Over time, I developed a passion for working alongside parents to solve behavioral challenges, using that same curiosity and effort to understand.
Like untangling a knot, teasing apart the strands of difficulty to get a better look at what is really going on. Figuring out what children are capable of, what they are ready to learn, and what’s beyond them.
The solutions come much easier this way.
About Jennifer
From Study to Practice
Let me tell you about the training and experience that led me to this work that I love so much and taught me so many tools for untangling your child’s struggles!
I studied dance and human movement in college. After graduating, I developed an interest in the human movement connection between parents and children. I worked in a parent and child center with a movement focus.
From there, I went to graduate school at Bank Street College of Education with a major in early childhood education and an emphasis on parent-child development. I worked with toddlers in daycare, in the pediatric clinic of Bellevue Hospital, an urban facility, and then in home-based early intervention for children with special needs.
From Practice to Personal
When I took a break to be home with my own young children, that was an education in its own right.
I don’t have to tell you how different it was to BE a parent – and how much I learned during this time!
And Back Again
When I returned to work, I joined a county evaluation team to observe and create a service plan for infants and toddlers with delays in their development.
I had the amazing experience of meeting many different families and children in their homes.
To Private Practice
When autism became more prevalent, educators pondered how to provide the most beneficial services. Parents wanted to be able to teach and guide their children. They needed to build connections and relationships.
To support parents in this way, I earned certification in Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) for children with autism and began a private practice.
I learned to use video recordings to untangle children’s confounding behavior, collaborate with parents, and share relationship development principles and techniques. Because those principles and techniques were based on healthy child development, RDI training proved helpful with all families, not only those affected by autism.
To Brain-Based Discoveries
In 2010, I joined the Family Hope Center, working with families worldwide: children of all ages, with abilities that ranged from profound brain injury to mild, quirky disorganization.
There, I learned to observe, evaluate, and understand behavior from a brain-based perspective: what major areas of the brain (brainstem, limbic system, cortex) govern particular behaviors.
This process revealed even more tools for finding the best way to set children back on the path to healthy development.
And Overall Mental Health
In 2015, I completed a fellowship at the Infant-Parent Mental Health Program at UMass Boston. Although this might sound like it was only about infants, it actually involved all ages because we all carry our infant selves deep within us throughout our lives.
We studied the power of the parent and child relationship, starting at infancy, and learned many ways to support parents with all the normal and inevitable challenges of raising children.
And Finally to YOU
And now, it’s time to amalgamate that experience to help you build a stronger, more successful relationship with your child.
And to help your child learn how to function with greater confidence, health, and happiness.
Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?
Reach out now to set up your free consultation and learn how I can help you, too.