Wait, Watch and Wonder
Presenter
Session / Time
- Breakout Session II
- 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
- Amersfort Room
Description
This presentation by Prudence Heisler, one of the founders of SPOTS, a private occupational therapy service renowned for working with children with severe regulatory challenges, will describe approaches to family engagement. These children’s problems have often confounded parents to the extent that they intensely question their adequacy as parents. Participants will learn about the power of authenticity, mirroring linguistic nuances, and forming an anchor to connect with parents. This presentation will illuminate ways of speaking with parents that build empowering relationships. Participants will engage in discussions on the art of listening, building a trusting alliance, and forming a partnership where parents feel safe to reveal their fears and disappointments as well as their hopes.
Goals / Content / Intentionality
By the conclusion of this session, participants will:
- describe linguistic nuances used in connecting with parents and clients,.
- identify factors that build a trusting alliance, and.
- discuss the importance of parent empowerment.
Take-Home Messages
- Authenticity plays a key role in reaching and connecting with clients.
- Matching nuances of language and client posturing builds stronger communication.
- Allowing parents to grieve for the child they imagined promotes acceptance of the child they have.
My hope and intention is to emphasize the value and importance of the initial contact and connection that is built when first meeting parents and their child. I will reinforce the essential nature of initiating a trusting connection and to appreciate responsibility. One must embrace and congratulate the family on the brilliance of their parenting as one truly listens to their story. My intention is to have participants understand the simplicity of connection and to trust their own intuition when they feel that connection. I want to share my perspective that sometimes professional expertise, although important, is best put to one side to allow instinct and intuition to reach a family.
Presenter Bio
Prudence Heisler, OTR/L
Prudence Heisler, OTR/L
Prudence Heisler graduated from the University of Melbourne in Australia. Prudence has training in the evaluation and treatment of children with sensory processing disorders. She worked in mental health programs for mothers and children who suffered from trauma. She brings this sensitivity to her work with the children at SPOTS. She was trained and certified as a psychotherapist by the Manhattan Institute of Sociotherapy and received a master’s degree in organizational psychology from Columbia University. Prudence divides her time between the Manhattan and Brooklyn offices of SPOTS. She works as a clinician, evaluator, and educator and provides consultation services to preschool programs in New York City.
