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our mission

To help children achieve their fullest potential by building life skills, sparking creativity, and finding solutions to life’s challenges.

happy kid wearing mask arts and crafts

our philosophy

We believe in helping children thrive by:

 

  • Focusing on their strengths

  • Helping them gain new skills by expanding their horizons

  • Using play, creativity, and exploration as a foundation to build intellectual curiosity

  • Recognizing that every child is unique

  • Taking a can-do approach to problem solving

  • Engaging the child's community (parents, teachers, and clinical team) is crucial to success

MEET THE TEAM

We are a group of  experienced and passionate occupational, physical, and speech and language therapists  who specialize in assessing and treating kiddos in the preschool and elementary school settings. We believe in a  strengths-based, child-centered, holistic approach,  and value open communication with parents and teachers to help each child excel beyond “therapy time.” Having worked together  in the public school setting for many years, we are passionate about giving every child an opportunity to  thrive based on his/her individual needs. 

Meilani Connolly, Occupational Therapist
 MEILANI
 CONNOLLY 
 FOUNDER 
OTR/L
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST
Catherine Cowen, Occupational Therapist
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST
BaileyKiser.png
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST
Zane Klasset
occupational therapist
Rachel Phillips, Physical Therapit
PHYSICAL
THERAPIST
Lily Lau, Speech Language Pathologist
SPEECH 
LANGUAGE pathologist
Susan Dambroff, Special Educaton Teacher
SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER
Meilani_Connolly_2_ef.png
 MEILANI
 CONNOLLY 
OTR/L
PEDIATRIC
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST

MEILANI has 16 years of experience in occupational therapy, the last eight of which have been focused on treating children in school-based and hospital setting. Since graduating from San Jose State University with a bachelor’s degree in 2001, Meilani has worked in a variety of settings including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home-based, early intervention, and school setting in San Francisco. She traveled as an occupational therapist for two years all over the United States prior to meeting her husband in Washington, DC in 2006. In 2008, Meilani and her family moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for Meilani's husbands job. In Malaysia, Meilani used her knowledge in occupational therapy to mentor occupational therapists in Kuala Lumpur, where she volunteered at a children’s clinic to help treat underserved children with cerebral palsy, learning disorders, and other neurological conditions.


Meilani has her advanced certification in Physical Agent Modalities (PAM) and has used this to treat patients who have had a stroke. Meilani has participated in continuing education programs in Sensory Processing and Regulation, the ALERT Program, the Zones of Regulation, the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol, and Handwriting Without Tears. She recently took courses on Understanding and Managing Visual Deficits, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia, and Executive Dysfunction skills and treatments for kids with or without disabilities. Meilani has used her knowledge in all settings to treat children of all ages in order to increase a student’s learning and abilities. Meilani has two boys, ages 11 and 10. Meilani enjoys spending time with her family during her free time.

Meilani
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST
 CATHERINE 
 COWEN 
OTR/L

CATHERINE has been an occupational therapist in a variety of settings for the past 14 years and currently provides services to children in public schools.   Some of her Continuing education courses include "Picky Eaters vs. Problem Feeders: SOS Approach”, “Visual Vestibular Treatment to Improve Sensory Processing, Motor Skills and Behavior”,  “NDT Treatment of Baby and Young Child."  She completed her 200 hour yoga alliance certification as well as pediatric training through "It's Yoga Kids" in SF.  Using a playful individualized approach she loves helping others make healthy changes in many areas like strength, motor coordination, and self regulation. 

Catheine
Bailey
BaileyKiser.png
 Bailey Kiser, 
OTR/L
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPIST

Bailey is an occupational therapist and feeding therapist with a creative and playful approach to improving children's skill and independence. She earned her master's of Occupational Therapy from Dominican University of California in San Rafael. Since joining the professional occupational therapy field, Bailey has provided services to families in-home, in-clinic, and virtually. Bailey has started her journey with feeding therapy with the SOS feeding approach and has plans to continue this journey with other continuing education units in the future.

 

Outside of work, Bailey enjoys being outdoors, hiking, reading with her cat, and playing soccer. 

Zane
Zane Klasset
occupational therapist

Zane has over 14 years of experience working in pediatric occupational therapy. He discovered his passion for working with children as a gymnastics coach for 8 years prior to and during his pursuit of a master’s degree in occupational therapy. He completed his degree in 2008 from Lenoir Rhyne University in his home state of North Carolina. He has since completed his certification in sensory integration, and is trained in Learning Without Tears programs, Masgutova NeuroTactile Integration, DIR/Floortime, SOS Approach to Feeding, Integrated Listening Systems (iLs), Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP), and Wilbarger Protocol. He has worked with children ages birth-21 years across various settings, including schools, clinics, homes, community, and gymnastics facilities. He brings experience utilizing Social Thinking and Zones of Regulation curriculum to foster social-emotional development. Zane strives to work closely with parents, caregivers, and teachers to ensure maximum follow-through and optimal results for all of his patients.

Rachel
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 RACHEL
phillips 
MPT
PHYSICAL
THERAPIST

RACHEL has been a physical therapist for the past 12 years and has been working exclusively with children for 5 years. It’s tough to say who likes playing with the toys and blowing bubbles more: Rachel or the children she is working with! When she is not working, she enjoys camping, working on her campervan, biking, or seeing live music.

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 Lily Lau 
 MS, CCC-SLP
SPEECH LANGUAGE pathologist

LILY is a dedicated speech language pathologist who utilizes evidence-based treatment interventions. She has experience working with individuals of all ages who have autism spectrum disorders, articulation disorders, expressive/receptive language disorders, acquired neurogenic communication disorders, cognitive linguistic impairments, and etc.  Lily is passionate about working with individuals with special needs.  She has experience providing speech and language assessments and treatment under various capacities, including home-based early intervention, school-based services within Bay Area public schools, and clinic-based treatment for adult inpatient population within medical facilities.  Lily completed her B.A. in Sociology & Chinese at University of California Davis, M.A. in Chinese at San Francisco State University and M.S. in Communicative Disorders at California State Eastbay. She is native to San Francisco and enjoys attending conferences/workshops for continued education and traveling during her breaks.

Lily
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SPECIAL
EDUCATION
TEACHER

SUSAN Dambroff is a special educator, specializing in early intervention.  Susan plays guitar, and incorporates music activities into her work with children. She worked for 25 years for SFUSD, as a Special Education teacher, Autism Specialist, and Coach in Inclusive Practices.  She specializes in working with children with social and communication challenges, working to provide play and language rich environments that promote learning and facilitate engagement.

Susan
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