Watch this short video to find out more:
This membership is for you if:
✅You're an Early Intervention therapist (OT, PT, SLP, DI, ECSE, etc) working with children 0-5 in the home or community settings
✅You want to improve your parent coaching skills
✅You want to collaborate with other experienced EI therapists
✅You like learning new things and understanding how to apply them to your caseload
✅You want to feel more confident in your skills
✅You want to save time and enjoy your life outside of EI more!
It's not for you if:
❌You only work with children older than 5
❌You don't want to apply evidenced-based coaching principles to your practice
❌You don't need to learn new skills
❌You don't like collaborating with other EI therapists
Does This Sound Familiar?
I want to make a Difference: Do you want to significantly impact your client's life and see those outcomes met more consistently?
I'm on information overload: Do you struggle to pick one continuing education class because you want to learn various skills for your practice?
I have no time to research: Are you tired of spending all your free time scrolling the internet for continuing education and parent education handouts?
I wish I wasn't alone: Would you like to discuss your challenging cases with others, enhance your clinical reasoning, and gain more treatment ideas?
I don't know what I don't know: Are you feeling unsure about your coaching skills or if you're on the right track with your clinical reasoning?
Imagine Your Path to Success
👉Boost Client Impact: Feel confident in your coaching skills and know you're truly helping families.
👉Expand Your Skills: Dive into a variety of on-demand trainings created just for you.
👉All-in-One Resource Hub: Get all the materials you need to educate families, fast and easy.
👉Collaborate and Learn: Chat with seasoned pros, swap ideas, and discover new approaches.
Why should I become a member of The Therapy Village?
Simple....We are better together!
If you've ever had the privilege of working in a setting where you get the chance to consistently co-treat, collaborate, and learn from other therapists, you know the value that provides.
Unfortunately, in the world of Early Intervention you are often on your own to deliver services in client's homes or daycare centers (and sometimes in our current world via teletherapy).
It can be very isolating and challenging to grow professionally. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut and feel overwhelmed.
Taking continuing education classes regularly becomes costly and time-consuming, scrolling endless Facebook groups can leave you dizzy with conflicting information, and searching for new activity ideas online and parent resources can be exhausting.
Our field changes so rapidly and it's almost impossible to keep up with it all. There's never enough time to learn all the things you want and need.
Our role as Early Interventionists not only involves working the child, but the whole family. This was something that I wasn't taught in school and frankly, I was not prepared with the knowledge to work with families to support their child. I've learned a ton along the way but I want you to know....
You don't need to know it all to be a great practitioner!
But you do need to have a good support system in place to turn to when you're feeling stuck or aren't sure about things. Community and mentorship will help you to avoid burnout and help build your confidence to enjoy this profession in the way you envisioned.
Embracing a holistic approach and strengthening your lens to understand all 5 areas of development and how they overlap is one of the keys to feeling confident in EI. This is why The Therapy Village emphasizes learning in a multidisciplinary way and from amazing experts from various disciplines.
The Therapy Village is exactly what I wish I had when I started in Early Intervention and it's what helps me to continue to grow as an experienced practitioner. It's a place where therapists with different practice experiences and knowledge come together to learn new skills, share information, and problem solve to serve our families to the best of our ability.
It's time to join The Therapy Village...where we work smarter, not harder!
Real Stories, Real Impact:
"Just wanted to let you know how thankful I have been for the Therapy Village! Just hit my one year mark as an OT in July and I could not have made it without the EI resources and support I found, and was so helped out by this community you have created."
-Mary Kate Riffle, MS, OTR/L
What can I expect when I join
The Therapy Village?
ON-DEMAND TRAININGS: A variety of EI-focused trainings. Bite-sized and full of tips to apply to your practice right away. (Over $1000 value)
*See complete list of content below
PRINTABLES: Loads of parent handouts organized by topic area. Plus, tons of EI resources just for therapists so you can say goodbye to scrolling the internet at night. ($100+ value)
*See the complete list of handouts and resources below
COMMUNITY: Ask your burning caseload questions and seek/share resources conveniently located inside Teachable 24/7. (Priceless)
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMING: Join our team of experienced providers and other Therapy Village members once a month to collaborate, share, and support each other.
Can't make it live? That's ok, calls will be recorded! And you can also submit your questions ahead of time. (Priceless)
NEW TRAINING QUARTERLY: New trainings released each quarter based on member needs. (Over $1000 value)
NEW PARENT HANDOUTS/RESOURCES: Shared frequently in our community and based on member requests to keep you up-to-date on the latest evidence-based practices. (Priceless)
I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be as an EI therapist, whether you are new or an experienced practitioner.
Knowledge is power! But applying new knowledge is not always straight forward or intuitive.
The Therapy Village is much different than a course! You don't need to follow a linear path from Module 1 to completion. Pick and choose the area(s) that you need more support with for your caseload and start there.
Or better yet, seek support from the Therapy Village experienced multidisciplinary team and other Therapy Village members to work through your challenging cases in our community and/or during the monthly live calls.
Show up consistently each month and come with an open mind and dedication to learning something small to apply to your practice.
You no longer have to do this EI journey alone!
Meet Your Team:
You've got questions....we've got experience!
Melanie Batista, OTR/L
Melanie is the founder of Growing Little Brains, LLC and The Therapy Village. She has 24 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist. She holds certifications in infant massage and the SIPT. She is trained in the SOS feeding approach, Handwriting Without Tears, and the Therapeutic Listening.
Melanie's career spans various practice settings, including schools, hospitals, NICU, outpatient, academia, Early Intervention, and telehealth.
Melanie currently runs Growing Little Brains, LLC full-time while also contracting with the state of Massachusetts as a professional development facilitator for their Early Intervention provider trainings.
Melanie combines her knowledge of EI with her lived experiences as a parent in the EI program when her first son was born.
Melanie is passionate about building a community of skilled, confident, and supported therapists to be able to enhance the lives of families and children from the start.
When not working, Melanie enjoys walking, playing basketball with her boys, the beach, the mountains, skiing, and painting/remodeling furniture.
Jill Emeson, MA, CCC-SLP
Jill has been a speech language pathologist since 2006. She has spent the majority of her career in Early Intervention on a transdisciplinary team in Denver, CO.
Jill is a mentor for new EI therapists and she is passionate about development and coaching families to build capacity for both parents and children. She is Beckman Oral Motor certified and SOFFI certified. She has extensive training in feeding and oral motor. Jill has completed continuing education courses on tethered oral tissue, food chaining, and breastfeeding.
While feeding is a passion, Jill also understands the complexities of being a single provider in a home and tackling all areas of development. Her understanding of development is a support to helping families meet their child where they are at as well as mentor new EI therapists in these intricacies.
When not working, Jill loves being outdoors in the beautiful CO wilderness, finding the humor in life, making her friends and family laugh, and playing with her son.
Heather Magyar, M.A., ECSE, IMH-E
Heather has been an EI developmental therapist since 2011 and senior therapist since 2020 in Denver, CO. Prior to this, Heather worked as a special education teacher and early childhood educator in various school settings with children in the 0-5 age range.
Currently, Heather continues to practice while also leading a team of EI providers through mentorship and reflective supervision. Heather holds an infant mental health endorsement as an infant family specialist. She is certified in interactive metronome and therapeutic listening. Heather is also trained in sign language, picture exchange communication, and pyramid plus.
Heather is highly specialized in supporting autistic clients and their families with concerns in the areas of behavior, social-emotional, communication, and play development.
When not working, Heather enjoys yoga and barre classes, traveling, the beach, and spending time with her 2 teenagers.
Need more details?
Here's the content you'll find inside The Therapy Village:
(You will have instant access to all of the following
on-demand content when you join today!)
Growing Little Brains AOTA-approved courses
- Getting started with parent coaching (.55 CEUs)
- Coaching Reflexes and Motor Skills (.015 CEUs)
- Coaching Communication Skills for the non-SLP (.1 CEUs)
Trainings with Melanie:
Sensory:
- Explaining sensory to families
- Getting started with sensory interventions
- Sensory assessment
- Building sensory into routines
- Treatment considerations for sensory
- Tips for children who eat non-food items (pica)
Feeding:
- Why children don't eat
- Feeding history
- How to help parents with a picky eater
- Helping parents with food selection
Assessments:
- Components of a good assessment
- Birth to 5 assessments
- Informal assessments
- Interpreting the sensory profile
- Documentation
Telehealth:
- Getting started with teletherapy
- Teletherapy considerations for sensory interventions
Documentation:
- Writing IFSP outcomes and IEP goals
- Writing functional outcomes on an IFSP
- When to change an IFSP outcome
- Writing EI daily notes
Motor Development:
- Working with medically fragile children
Sleep:
- Considerations for children with sleep disturbances
Autism:
- Engaging children with limited play skills
Guest Interviews/Trainings
- Building blocks to communication with Stacey Barnes, M.S. CCC-SLP
- How to use green screen in EI with Kylie Jeffrey, OTR from Play Spark Toys
- How to run a mom and baby class with Kaili Ets, HonBSc., MSc.Ot
- Reflexes with guest speaker Christine Robenault, PT from Sweet Pea Pediatric Wellness
- Autism with guest speaker Meg Proctor, MS, OTR/L from Learn Play Thrive, LLC
- Breastfeeding/Bottle Feeding with guest speaker Meredith Pollaro, OTR/L, IBCLC from Nourish Nevada
- Vision Impairments with Paula Landry, EI-TVI from A Shared Vision
- Transitioning from NICU to EI-working with NICU graduates in the home with Aimee Ketchum, OTD, OTR/L, CNMI
- Sleep with Tracey Kondrasuk-Brander, OTR/L
Access to all Digital Resources in the Growing Little Brains Shop (Slide Decks and Book Activities). See a complete list of these activities at; https://growinglittlebrains.com/shop
Access to all previously recorded group coaching calls (Lots of case study brainstorming and golden nuggets in here!)
BUT WAIT! There's more!
You'll also receive access to these 50+ downloadable Parent Handouts
(A Therapy Village member favorite! and organized by topic area)
And these 50+ Compiled Resources and Handouts just for therapists!
See what others have to say:
