COMPREHENSIVE PEDIATRIC THERAPY SERVICES UNDER ONE ROOF
OUR TEAM
Dana Weine, M.S.
Co-Owner/Developmental Therapist/Play Therapist
Certified DIRFloortime® Provider
Certified Synergetic Play Therapist
Social Skills Director
Dana is a developmental therapist, the founder of Earlyworks Developmental Therapy, and the co-founder of Boca Developmental Therapy Center. She specializes in identifying and addressing emotional, behavioral, and developmental challenges that may hinder a child's everyday life. With an individualized and relationship-based approach, Dana works with each child and their family to implement developmentally appropriate interventions that improve functioning and relationships in all aspects of life.
Dana’s passion for helping others led her to pursue a Master of Science in Child Development from the Erikson Institute of Chicago in 2002. There, she received intensive training in a multidisciplinary approach to human development. With over 20 years of experience, Dana has the skills and expertise to help children overcome emotional and behavioral challenges while building essential skills and coping strategies that serve them well into adulthood. Her approach is grounded in the latest research in child development, ensuring that your child receives the most effective and up-to-date therapy possible. Dana believes in a collaborative team approach with parents, therapists, and teachers working with each child.
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Whether your child struggles with a specific issue, challenging behaviors, or a diagnosis, Dana is here to help and support your family. Her approach emphasizes treating the whole child, recognizing that all areas of development are interrelated. Rather than teaching rote skills, Dana uses her extensive training and knowledge of human growth, development, sensory processing, parent-child and family relationships, and mental health to identify the subtleties in development underlying behavioral and developmental challenges. Through Dana’s therapy sessions and social skills groups, children learn to handle and manage their emotions more effectively and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their world. Dana is committed to helping children develop a healthy sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and the ability to manage their emotions healthily.
In addition to the work Dana does with families, she is a wife and mother of three teenagers, including a daughter with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and anxiety and a son with ADHD. As a parent who has gone through the challenges of moving and finding the right therapy for her children, Dana understands firsthand what it’s like to feel overwhelmed and helpless. Her family's success story with DIRFloortime® and Synergetic Play Therapy® inspired Dana to help families facing similar challenges. Dana’s goal is to help families achieve the same progress, success, and better quality of life her family has and continues to experience.
Rachel Khalifa OTR/L
Co-Owner/Licensed Occupational Therapist
Rachel Khalifa, M.O.T., is the founder of Dynamic Theraplay Therapy Services. Rachel received her B.S. at The University of Quinnipiac in Connecticut in 2003 and her Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2006. Rachel has worked in various pediatric settings, including schools, outpatient clinics, and community-based pre-vocational training. She has experience with children ages 2- 16 working toward various skills, including but not limited to sensory processing skills, fine motor coordination, handwriting, executive functioning, visual perceptual skills, and daily living skills.
Rachel is passionate about designing fun, client-centered, and goal-focused sessions. Using a strength-based approach, she strives to facilitate the acquisition of functional skills for her clients that can be applied at home, school, and the community. Rachel is an occupational therapist trained in Handwriting Without Tears, including Pre-K through K-5 handwriting, literacy and math, readiness, and writing. Rachel is also trained in the use of The Orton-Gillingham Approach, which is a direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, sequential, diagnostic, and prescriptive way to teach literacy when reading, writing, and spelling does not come easily to individuals, such as those with dyslexia.
Rachel is also experienced in the Kinesio Taping Method (a method designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process while allowing support and stability to muscles and joints without restricting the body’s full range of motion). Rachel also participated in a four-day intensive sensory integration intervention training to effectively develop and implement sensory diets and design sensory spaces to address a child’s sensory needs. She is proficient in the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales Second Edition (PDMS-2), Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition (BOT™-2), Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, Handwriting Without Tears’ Screener of Handwriting Proficiency, and the Sensory Profile -2.
Rachel Published two articles in The Autism Notebook of South Florida while working at Nova Southeastern University for Baudhuin Preschool. In addition, Rachel values parents' crucial role in a child’s development journey. She seeks to create a collaborative, supportive partnership with them to ensure therapy strategies can be carried over into the home environment. In her free time, Rachel enjoys exploring Florida with her husband & her two sons.
Michael Kellen, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Michael Kellen, Ph. D., is a pediatric clinical psychologist. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation in Omaha, Nebraska, and his clinical training at Children’s Hospital, the University of Nebraska, and the Nebraska Medical Center. He received his Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from Nova Southeastern University. He has completed specialized training in behavioral pediatrics and clinical neuropsychology. He is also certified in interdisciplinary leadership in neurodevelopmental-related disabilities.
Dr. Kellen’s area of specialization includes pediatric assessment and clinical intervention in neurotypical and atypical populations, including developmental disabilities, genetic disorders, traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorders, and concurrent psychiatric and psychological disorders. Clinical issues include non-compliance, conduct disorder, sleep disturbances, toilet training, habit/tic disorders, self-injurious behaviors, and parent-child therapy.
Dr. Kellen’s clinical and research interests include early identification and intervention, including behavioral parent training, for common childhood problems. Dr. Kellen currently conducts clinical research with the Illinois Institute of Technology, focusing on Piagetian development studies related to those diagnosed with autism.
Dr. Kellen has multiple publications in professional and peer-reviewed academic journals in areas related to ‘time-out’ procedures and eating disorders. He has also co-authored a book chapter on domestic violence. Dr. Kellen has presented his research findings throughout the United States and internationally, with invitations from the Florida Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, and the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Dr. Kellen values working within a collaborative, systems approach to facilitate clients’ most optional development by strengthening support across all familial, educational, medical, and community contexts. Dr. Kellen is also passionate about translating research into practice and policy and disseminating effective psychological services and tools to practitioners and families.
Dr. Kellen enjoys teaching trainees (e.g., master’s level, post-doctoral fellows) behavior analytic skills while building their awareness of their professional leadership strengths. Dr. Kellen is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, and received his doctoral training under the supervision of the renowned psychologist Nathan Azrin, Ph.D.
Valerie Groysman, OTR/L
Licensed Occupational Therapist
Valerie received her B.S. and Master's in Occupational Therapy at Long Island University of Brooklyn Campus in 2007, with a minor in psychology. She has worked in various pediatric settings, including public schools and outpatient clinics, and has over 15 years of experience working with children ages 3 to 16.
She has experience working with sensory processing skills, fine motor coordination, handwriting, executive functioning, visual perceptual skills, and daily living skills. Valerie is passionate about working with children. She is very creative and loves art and crafts. Valerie is an occupational therapist trained in Handwriting Without Tears and a TV teacher. She has taken multiple sensory courses and has provided sensory diets. Valerie is fluent in Russian.
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Jamie, M.S., CCC-SLP
Speech Therapist
Jamie Havertz, M.S., CCC-SLP, is an experienced and compassionate speech-language pathologist who has worked with individuals across their lifespans. She received her Bachelor of Science in Communication Disorders and Deaf Education from Utah State University and furthered her education by receiving her Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from Nova Southeastern University.
Jamie has been working in speech pathology for over ten years. She has served in various school settings, inpatient and outpatient hospital settings, skilled nursing facilities, home health, hospital homebound, and teletherapy. She has training in treating speech and language disorders, social skills, AAC, voice, dysphagia, feeding, cognitive disorders, and motor speech disorders, including apraxia and dysarthria. Jamie holds her ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence, Florida Education Certificate, LSVT trained, EARLY Steps trained, feeding trained, and CPR Certified. She has taken countless continuing education courses to enhance her skills.
Jamie is dedicated to making her clients feel heard, working on goals that matter most to them, and bringing real-life activities into therapy to improve their independence and overall quality of life. She takes the time to explain why she is working on each goal and finds it beneficial to collaborate with parents, family members, and other therapists to help create a broader support system.
Stacey Sucoff
Social Worker (LMSW)
Social Skills Group Assistant Director
Stacey is a warm and compassionate social worker. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker and earned a Master's in Social Work (MSW) in 2001 from Barry University with a focus on Mental Health. She is also a Reiki Master.
Stacey has extensive experience providing individual, family, and group therapy in New York and Florida. Stacey’s previous experience has ranged from facilitating life skills and process groups for adolescents, conducting individual and group play therapy sessions to assess interactions and underlying issues, coordinating services for developmentally delayed children and their families, and organizing therapy teams for home-based and center-based services.
Stacey's passion and specialty are working with children and adolescents, utilizing various techniques, including Play Therapy and the DIRFloortime® approach.
After taking time off to raise her children, she is excited to join Earlyworks to provide group play-based DIRFloortime® therapies for young children with developmental concerns or other special needs.
Jamie Duva, OTR/L
Licensed Occupational Therapist
Certified DIRFloortime® Provider
After graduating from Boston University and realizing her passion for working with children, Jamie obtained her Master's in occupational therapy from Nova Southeastern University in November 2012. During graduate studies, she completed various clinical internships, one in the mental health ward at St. Mary's in West Palm Beach and the other with Lois Gold of the Center for Pediatric Therapy in Coral Gables, where Jamie began her career as a Florida-licensed Occupational Therapist.
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Jamie completed a DIR-FCD Certificate in Occupational Therapy from The Profectum™ Foundation in 2014. She used the principles of the Floortime Model to interact with clients by building a trusting relationship first and then being able to work on development. Courses to address infant mental health, attachment issues, caregiver relationships, and the importance of the mind-body connection have expanded her knowledge and skills. Attendance at an advanced intensive mentorship diagnosis and treatment course on sensory processing disorder at the Star Institute under the guidance of Lucy Miller provided Jamie with tools to explore new options for treatment.
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Jamie started riding horses at age five and continued to compete with her jumper. This passion has translated to certification as a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor through PATH and integrating the knowledge obtained through Hippotherapy Treatment Principles Level I and II by the American Hippotherapy Association.
OUR CENTER
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OUR SENSORY GYM
At Boca Developmental Therapy Center, we understand that sensory gym play is critical to your child's development and success. Our facility includes a state-of-the-art sensory gym that enhances our therapeutic services and interventions. Fully equipped with innovative equipment and accessories, our gym is designed to provide opportunities for exploration and discovery in a fun, safe, and motivating environment. Our sensory gym promotes movement, motor skill development, sensory processing, and imaginative play, along with ample opportunities for social interaction.
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A sensory gym is a safe, structured environment with specially designed equipment to stimulate the senses, including the vestibular and proprioception systems. Providing a nurturing and inclusive environment, the gym is tailored to help children improve their body awareness, gross and fine motor skills, muscle strength, coordination, motor planning, communication, and social skills. We are proud to offer a range of equipment, including swings, a crash pad, a zip-line, monkey bars, rock walls, a trampoline, a castle structure, seclusion areas, and a jump deck to provide your child with an enjoyable and developmentally appropriate experience.
Our sensory gym is an excellent place for children of all ages and abilities to engage with their senses and improve their physical and cognitive skills. It is particularly beneficial for children with sensory processing disorders, who may struggle with processing stimuli in their environments. It allows them to have fun while building their tolerance to challenging activities and sensory input. Children of all ages and abilities are welcome.
