Professional Member Spotlight
As a benefit to both our families and professional members, xMinds publishes information about our professional members here in the xMindsWire as well as on our website. Inclusion does not constitute our endorsement. This month, xMinds would like to highlight the following new and renewing Professional Members:
Enhance EFS
Contact: Marci Skigen; 847-903-5600; enhanceefs@gmail.com
Services: Executive Functioning Coaching; IEP Consulting; Academic Tutoring
Enhance EFS provides executive functioning (EF) coaching within the context of individual and family treatment serving clients ages eight through adulthood with learning differences such as but not limited to ADHD, Autism, and Twice Exceptional (2e). Enhance EFS strives to provide its clients with EF coaching that elevates their executive functioning skills, providing tools embedded in their daily lives, whether at school or work. Enhance EFS also offers an array of educational guidance as families navigate the 504 and IEP terrain. Assistance is also given to students needing support with subject tutoring.
Guiding Exceptional Parents LLC
4711 Sheridan St., Riverdale Park, MD 20737
301-768-8503, www.guidingexceptionalparents.com
Contact: Sarah Wayland, wayland@guidingexceptionalparents.com
Services: Social Skills Therapy; Behavioral Therapy; Educational Consulting; Behavioral Support; Coaching
Sarah Wayland, Ph.D., is a parenting coach, certified RDI (Relationship Development Intervention) consultant, and a special needs care navigator at Guiding Exceptional Parents LLC. Her work as a parenting coach involves working closely with families to figure out which parenting strategies are best suited to their family – taking the profiles of both the caregivers and the child into account.
As an RDI consultant, Dr. Wayland works with parents to show them how to teach their children the essential skills that make relationships work. She teaches them how to identify problems, and through a highly customized program that takes both their profile and their child’s profile into account, they learn how to teach the missing skills. She also works with teens and adults to help them learn the skills necessary for making and maintaining meaningful relationships.
Her Special Needs Navigation Services are designed to help parents learn how to access resources and knowledge so they can confidently and effectively help their children. She knows how to effectively navigate clinical care and educational systems, how to evaluate reports, and how to help prioritize.
Ivymount School and Outreach Programs
11614 Seven Locks Rd., Rockville, MD 20854
301-469-0223; www.ivymount.org
Contact: Carolyn Leskowitz Woodham;
cwoodham@ivymount.org
Services: Private school; Nonprofit organization; Occupational therapy; Speech-Language Therapy; Social Skills Therapy; Behavioral Therapy; Educational Consulting; Athletics/Recreational Support
Ivymount School and Outreach Programs provide school- and community-based services for children and young adults with special needs throughout the Washington metropolitan area.
The school serves more than 200 students, ages 4-21, with speech and language impairments, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, health impairments, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. The classrooms are structured to serve students with a range of academic and cognitive abilities, including, in some cases, those who have the potential to obtain a high school diploma.
Ivymount Outreach Programs serve students, teachers, and parents to support children with learning and developmental challenges in the community through assessments, evaluations, therapies, and professional development. The goal in all of the programs is to help children and young adults achieve their highest level of development and independence to live with dignity and self-respect. Ivymount School has been twice recognized as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. Founded in 1961, Ivymount celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.
Gulnoza Yakubova, Ph.D.
University of Maryland, College Park, 3214 Benjamin Building
https://education.umd.edu/directory/gulnoza-yakubova
Contact: Gulnoza Yakubova; (301) 405-6889; gulnoza@umd.edu
Services: Research studies involving autistic individuals and their families. Research interests: Autism, technology-based intervention, virtual and augmented reality, parent training, life-skills instruction, academic supports.
Gulnoza Yakubova, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of special education in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. Having received her Ph.D. in special education from Purdue University in 2013, Dr. Yakubova worked as an assistant professor at Duquesne University prior to joining University of Maryland. She has several years of experience in working with autistic children to teach them independent living skills and supporting them in an academic environment. Her overarching research interest focuses on examining technology-based interventions to teach autistic students the skills they need to have a successful life after school. She uses technology with a primary focus on: (1) increasing functional independence of autistic children in school and community, (2) supporting access to learning academic content, and (3) training parents on creating video-based interventions. She conducts virtual and in-person training and research with autistic children and their parents via ongoing research projects.
.png)
