When I refer to  the author of this book, I always call her our “beloved therapist”  I also call her our “quarterback” and personally, I refer to her as a dear friend.  But her real name is Mary Padula.  She is one of Elizabeth’s first therapists ever and the one who has been with us since Elizabeth was two years old.

Finding Mary, seeing Mary and having Mary guide our way with Elizabeth was truly life-changing.  We had a diagnosis of SPD and Dyspraxia before finding our way to Mary, but what we did not have, was someone who would look at the whole child.  To quote from her book ” I will do my best to explain the thinking process that  needs to go into developing and efficient therapy navigation plan for a child—not for Down Syndrome, Autism, fragile X, genetic disorder, medical conditions—for the individual child who lives in an individual family, both with individual needs and finances.  Because in the end the label does not matter, it is the individual and their family that matters,

With this philosophy in mind, Mary began guiding and teaching us to help Elizabeth.  Mary provided support, kind words, friendship and above all, through  God and his strength, the knowledge that would help her give us the  therapy that would best suite Elizabeth’s needs at the time.

I have met a great deal of people who are on their own journeys with their children and when we speak.  I hear them refer to the work the OT is doing or the behaviorist is doing or the therapy their child is getting in school.  As I hear this one thing rings out to me, and it is that as good as those therapies are, are they linked together?  Meaning, does the OT talk with the behaviorist?  and the OT to the school personnel?  Each therapist brings a gift to your child but to connect them all together to share ideas, thoughts, successes and struggles is vital to the success of your child.

Through Mary, we have learned this line of thinking and with Mary’s help have navigated the therapies and helped Elizabeth make the successes she has in life.

I always offer out Mary’s number and website to those who ask as well as mentioning her in every lecture I give.  This is how much faith and respect I have for her and her work.  I am quite excited to share that she has written a book that I truly want to share with you.

The title is “Navigating the Therapy World”  In this book you will find chapters devoted to the different therapies.  In each chapter there is very detailed information about each one.  In my opinion it is like having Mary in book-form.

I get excited to think that by sharing this book with you, you will find it helpful to you, your family and of course your child.

Elizabeth arrived at Mary’s doorstep shaking.  Our first few therapies saw Elizabeth, non-verbal, screaming and crying.  Elizabeth is now a young lady, poised, self- aware, possessing a typical teenage attitude at times, but amazing…Thank you Mary for sharing the gifts God gave you, with us.

Her email and phone number are:

Please email her if you wish to talk, set up a time to talk about your child or simply purchase the book.