Parenting Portal with Joanna Port

Hedieh Naydawood, MS CCC-SLP is a Speech Language Pathologist in private practice, specializing in early intervention. Her trainings to the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Los Angeles Universal Preschool, North Lost Angeles, and Westide Regional Centers have focused on the benefits of relationship-based speech and feeding therapy.

Host Joanna Port is Director at Crestwood Hills Preschool. She has a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters in Social Work from USC. For the past 25 years she has worked with families and children, as a therapist, an elementary school teacher, and as a parent consultant. Find out more at parenting portal.com

Margaret Grundstein was raised in Detroit, attended the University of Michigan and then headed east, first to Goddard College for a Bachelor’s in History and then to Yale to graduate with a Master’s in Urban Planning in 1970. With the ink still wet on her diploma, Margaret headed west, dropping out to live communally in the woods of Oregon, an adventure she writes about in her first memoir, Naked in the Woods; My Unexpected Years in a Hippie Commune, published by Oregon State University Press in 2015. Five years later, having dropped back in, Margaret created a niche that fit her life as a single parent, the owner/director of a preschool in Venice, California which she still runs today. Margaret also has a private practice as a psychotherapist in Los Angeles. Ten years ago she added a third career, writing. Margaret’s second book, Not Dead Yet: The Life and Loves of a Septuagenarian, a collection of eight personal essays, is presently looking for a home with a publisher.

Host Joanna Port is Director at Crestwood Hills Preschool. She has a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters in Social Work from USC. For the past 25+ years she has worked with families and children, as a therapist, an elementary school teacher, and as a parent consultant. Find out more at parentingportal.com

Nathalie Aluisi, M.A., OTR/L, SWC is a pediatric occupational therapist with over 18 years of experience. She specializes in the areas of sensory processing disorders, autism spectrum disorders, social/emotional regulation, executive functioning, social thinking, developmental delays, premature birth, social skills, fine motor/visual motor difficulties, and feeding/oral motor skills. She has advanced training in Sensory Integration theory and practice, and is certified to administer the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test. She has completed courses through AOMT and is an orofacial myofunctional therapist. She has her advanced practice certification in Swallowing Assessment and Intervention (SWC). Mrs. Aluisi is a Certified Infant Massage Instructor. She is certified in the Interactive Metronome and is trained in the Therapeutic Listening Program and iLs Integrative Listening System. She completed the U.S. Department of Education traineeship for the USC School-based Occupational Therapy Training Project. She has served on the advisory board for this School-Based Training Grant. Mrs. Aluisi worked in various school settings running sensory-motor groups incorporating yoga, consulted with teachers and parents and provided individualized treatments, while working closely with professionals using Floor Time (DIR Model). She has been in private practice in West LA, providing clinic based intervention, home and school based services, and consultation. She is currently on the advisory board for the development of an Early Childhood Center. She presents at schools and parent groups on topics relating to sensory integration and children’s motor skill development. Nathalie works closely with parents, teachers, pediatricians, psychologists, speech therapists, physical therapist, and other professionals assisting children. Nathalie received a B.A. in Kinesiology and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.A. in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California. She lives in West LA with her husband and three sons.

Host Joanna Port is Director at Crestwood Hills Preschool. She has a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters in Social Work from USC. For the past 25 years she has worked with families and children, as a therapist, an elementary school teacher, and as a parent consultant. Find out more at parenting portal.com

Dr. Berman is an Association Professor of Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and runs her own clinical practice. Her interest is focused on increasing healthy child development by strengthening the parent-child bond. She is on the clinical faculty at the UCLA Women’s Life Center, which specializes in mental stability during pregnancy and post-partum.

Host Joanna Port is Director at Crestwood Hills Preschool. She has a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters in Social Work from USC. For the past 25 years she has worked with families and children, as a therapist, an elementary school teacher, and as a parent consultant. Find out more at parenting portal.com

Donna Holloran earned her BS in Psychology and Child Development before moving to California and earning a MSW from UCLA. She is also certified in Infant Mental Health. Donna founded Babygroup in Santa Monica, California, in 1996 and there maintains her practice as a parent educator and child development specialist.

Host Joanna Port is Director at Crestwood Hills Preschool. She has a Masters in Education from Pepperdine University and a Masters in Social Work from USC. For the past 25 years she has worked with families and children, as a therapist, an elementary school teacher, and as a parent consultant. Find out more at parenting portal.com