The Back Story...

Like many of you, I found working with children with disabilities to be a joyful, challenging, and rewarding career. However, as a school social worker, I quickly realized that parents and caregivers needed just as much support as the kids.  As I increased my outreach to families, I saw that time and time again, parents needed "the village,"  but that too often,  it was nowhere to be found. 

Meanwhile, you, my educator colleagues, are also struggling. You are asked to make miracles with limited time, resources, and support.  The "experts"  (you know, folks who have never stepped foot in a classroom) are constantly moving the goal posts in terms of what you are expected to do.  You probably know that some of your students' parents are struggling, but for many of you, difficult relationships with parents are one of the most stressful parts of your job.  What's more, you may never have had a class or a PD on how to handle them. Sometimes it all just feels like too much. 

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If this sounds familiar, this website is for you.  

Through my work at the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities at Rutgers University, I have provided consultation and professional development to teachers of students with disabilities on how to remove roadblocks  to effective parent partnerships. I also have worked as a school-based social worker providing support groups for parents of children with disabilities, and partnered with hundreds of students and their families through their transition from high school, and into  included, meaningful, and rewarding lives.

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I am a published author and frequent state and national presenter. Highlights include:

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• A publication currently in press:  Parents as partners: Exploring the experiences of students with disabilities. Children and Schools.

• 2022 publication The Unexpected Comfort of Feeling It All: A Support Group for Mothers of Autistic Adolescents Using the Lens of Ambiguous Loss

• 2021 publication Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Collaborating with Families to Create Employment Opportunity 

• 2020 APSE National Conference: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Collaborating with Families to Create Opportunity

• 2019 APSE National Conference: It’s Not a Cliff; It’s a View of the Horizon: Supporting Families Through Challenges of Transition

• 2019 Facing the Future Annual Statewide Conference: Transition to Adulthood: Navigating Difficult Conversations with Parents/Guardians

I received my Doctorate in Social Work from Rutgers University, and my Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Music from Berklee College of Music.