Jennifer M. Deady - Founder
Jennifer has over 20 years of experience working with young children. Although she specializes in working with children with autism, Jennifer truly believes all children can learn by building and strengthening relationships through play. Her passion is helping children strengthen their relationships by combining therapies that have proven to be most successful. All her sessions follow a play-based model, believing that children learn and develop important skills through play without even realizing it.
Prior to her independent work, Jennifer helped develop and was a director at one of Massachusetts' first Specialty Service Providers providing intensive early intervention services to children diagnosed with autism. She has designed and facilitated play-based social skills groups for children ages 3 to 10 years old diagnosed with Social Communication Disorder, Autism, Social Anxiety, and children with Social Emotional Challenges. Jennifer has held many roles, in-homes, at schools, as well as, in school consultation and teacher training. Her experiences in the field have allowed her to work and network with many highly respected clinicians in the state.
Jennifer works full-time at a therapeutic preschool in Lexington MA. There, she practices, DIR/Floortime, Relationship Development Intervention (RDI), the Social Thinking methodology™, and Zones of Regulation™. She has facilitated specialized yoga classes, social groups, and pretend playgroups, as well as, parent coaching. Jennifer is an Advanced Certified Autism Specialist through IBCCES (ACAS#18488) as well as a certified Yoga and Mindfulness Teacher, certified to teach Pre-K to grade 2! She has attended Social Thinking® Clinical Training level 1. She has completed her level one DIR/Floortime certification and is working towards becoming an expert DIR/Floortime provider.
Children need the
freedom and time to play.
Play is not a luxury.
Play is a necessity.
~Kay Redfield Jamison~
For more information email - jen@ahaconnections. com