greenspanscholarship

	Jennifer Banta Breslin, M.A., RDT Registered Drama Therapy Glendale, CA E-mail: creativestages@gmail.com Jennifer Breslin received her Masters Degree in Drama Therapy from NYU. As a registered drama therapist, she has worked with children, teens and families at risk for abuse or neglect, children and mothers from domestic violence relationships and inner city youth. She has also worked in early childhood education assisting families with transition to school and separation anxiety. Currently, Jennifer works as a Program Coodinator and Supervisor for an agency that provides developmentally based services for chilidren with special needs and their families. She educates parents, trains staff and develops programs and program curriculums. Recently, she has volunteered for a Zero to Three pilot project that supports infant/child reunification with their biological parents. Jennifer also has a small private practice where she provides in home intervention for parents and children with a range of social emotional needs. While working on her PhD at the ICDL Graduate School, Jennifer has written several works for publication, including a book chapter entitled, Playing Our Part: Using the DIR Model® to Help Define the Drama Therapist in Role. As she continues to pursue her PhD, Jennifer is considering a few different possible research areas, including: the neurobiology of emotional processing in children with autism spectrum disorders; identifying and mediating at-risk factors for the child actor; and comparing the DIR/Floortime model with other treatment models, such as ABA/DTT.
	Belen Camacho, MA. Early Childhood Special Education Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador E-mail: mabeca98@hotmail.com Belen has a long time commitment to working with young children who are at risk. She began her professional studies in Ecuador in the program on Early Childhood Education. Before starting the Master’s program in Special Education in the United States, she participated as a delegate on a 2004 service delegation to El Salvador with International Partners, a nonprofit group . Living and working an impoverished rural community was a life-changing experience. Currently Belen is the director of a support center (love2learn. www.ama-aprender.com) where she serves 28 children from 6 months to 10 years with diverse diagnoses (Down syndrome, Autism, Asperger, Cerebral Palsy, Learning and emotional difficulties, Seizures, Communication and Language Disorders, Regulatory Problems) and their families on a one to one basis.
	Patricia Dallas, B.S. Education Newark, DE E-mail: tdallas@mac.com Patricia (Tricia) is beginning her seventeenth year teaching preschool in a setting that combines children with and without special needs for Red Clay Consolidated School District in Wilmington, Delaware. Her children come from a wide range of socio economic levels, races, and abilities. Each year Tricia strives to create a classroom community where all children feel welcome and find success. She works with the University of Delaware as a cooperating teacher, mentoring student teachers who are preparing for futures in early childhood special education. Tricia has two main research interests: applying the DIR/ Floortime model to create programs in public schools that serve the needs of children and their families; and examining how children's narratives and dramatic play help them learn to regulate emotions and increase their symbolic capacities. Tricia is grateful to the Greenspan family for this honor, to the ICDL faculty and students, and to Dr. Greenspan for providing a dynamic model that guides her work each day.
	Christine Harkness, MS. Special Education, ASD consulting Grades 5-8 Elmira, NY E-mail: chharkne@horseheadsdistrict.com Christine is a special education teacher in a public school in Upstate New York. As a consultant teacher, she supports students in grades 5-8 who present on the autism spectrum. " Since first attending the ICDL Annual Conference five years ago, I have been striving to integrate the core concepts of DIR, especially the Functional Emotional Developmental Levels, into my daily practice. But more than that, the DIR/Floortime model has promoted global changes in me. There is a quote from the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho that says, “when something evolves, everything around that thing evolves as well.” This exactly explains the influence Dr. Greenspan and the ICDL Graduate School have had on my life over the last three years. My perspectives on parenting, teaching, relationships, and myself have drastically evolved since I first heard Dr. Greenspan speak. I now look at children and their families as dynamic systems. I strive to work within the context of relationships to support the connectedness between people. Most importantly, I am grateful that I will always have Dr. Greenspan whispering in my ear when I am working with children and families in the future"
	Christina Lyons, M.S. Occupational Therapy Lafayette, CA E-mail: christina.mg.lyons@gmail.com Christina graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania and completed her Master’s of Science at Temple University. She was awarded the Temple Academic Excellence Award upon graduating. Christina has been practicing as a pediatric occupational therapist for fifteen years, primarily in early intervention for infants, toddlers and young children with neuro-developmental challenges and their families, both in rural New Jersey as well as New York City. This past year her family of five relocated from the Northeast to Northern California. Research interests include validating the use of DIR/Floortime in children with psychosocial deficits secondary to a regulatory disorders.
	Joyce Steinman, MA, CCC-SLP. Speech-Language Pathology Williston Park, NY E-mail: joysuetrow@aol.com Joyce has worked as a speech-language pathologist for the past 33 years in a variety of capacities. Due to both personal and professional knowledge and experience, her primary interest lies in working with children with autism. For the past several years, she has also been teaching and supervising graduate students at Long Island University. "I am trying to make a difference in the lives of the children through the DIR/Floortime model by integrating all of my personal and professional knowledge and experience with the new ideas and philosophies being introduced to me in my coursework at the ICDL program. Many of Dr. Greenspan’s guiding principles, including parent-professional collaboration, transdisciplinary integration, and emotional support and empathy, have all been key components of my work throughout my career and I hope to continue to pass on his teachings and legacy by sharing what I have learned with all of the families and children whom I serve, as well as with my graduate students who are the future of our profession. I feel that I owe it to all of them to do so.
	Tammy WIllard, M.S. Special Education Clarence, NY E-mail: willardfish1@aol.com Tammy's prior experiences include; Special Education Teacher, District Program Placement Specialist, and Research Support Specialist. Her current experiences and training gained in this program will allow her to provide DIR support services by consulting with schools and agencies as well as serve as a mentor for professionals and parents in the community. Tammy hopes to contribute to the research that will provide continued evidence to support the DIR/Floortime approach. While adding to the research she hopes to further advocate and lobby for parent choice leading to the prevention and early identification and treatment of children with developmental, communication and learning disorders. Tammy is honored to receive the Stanley Greenspan Memorial Scholarship.