BACKGROUND & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s in Social Work (Hunter College), licensed in NY State

• 20 years’ experience providing social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports to NYC schools (direct service with students/teachers, supervision, consultation, training, coaching, evaluation)

• Certification in Applied Educational Neuroscience (Butler University)

• Restorative Practices and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Coach

• Experience developing and facilitating training workshops/curricula for teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, administrators, and parents

• Trauma-informed practices

• Commitment to looking at systems of oppressions and intersections of power within race, gender/identity, ability, etc. 

• Extensive Training in Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

AREAS OF INTEREST & EXPERTISE:

• Understanding behavior from a brain-based, neuroscientific approach

• Sensory Processing, ADHD, and Autism

• PDA neurotype of Autism

• Navigating public school-based systems

• Identifying gaps in schools and therapeutic models

• Recommending schools and resources in NYC

• Consulting with schools for IEP recommendations

• Supporting family systems and siblings

See Liora’s recent interview with the Alliance Against Restraint & Seclusion!

As both a mother of a complicated, “differently wired,” neurodivergent kid, as well as a social worker with many years of experience working in schools, I have a unique perspective that has broadened outside many traditional boxes.