Founder & Owner of Felman Early Childhood Consulting & Community of Play

For over 19 years, Gabrielle has worked as an Early Childhood Development Specialist. A passionate supporter of young children and their families, she specializes in early childhood development, pediatric mental health, play therapy, special education, and parent-child & family relationships.

Gabrielle designs and leads group programs for children from birth to age 8. Her work in these groups focuses on the early development of social, emotional, and cognitive growth in young children. She also works one-on-one with parents and children in her play-based private practice, which focuses on social and emotional learning, self-regulation, family relationships, executive functioning skills and school success. She takes a multi-sensory approach, focusing on play, social communication, emotional regulation and growth mindset. Gabrielle is the Director of Child Development at Lovevery, a developmental toy company and app.

In her work with parents and caregivers, she focuses on perinatal mental health (pregnancy and postpartum), parent coaching and developmental education to give parents and caregivers support and partnership to parent with confidence.

Gabrielle earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Psychology from Boston University. She earned her master’s degree in Early Childhood General and Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and is certified and licensed in both General Education and Special Education. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work, with a focus on mental health, from Columbia University and is a licensed clinical social worker.

For more information about her private practice visit Felman Early Childhood Consulting.

Founder of Piel Developmental Consulting

Sarah is a dedicated early childhood development specialist and special educator with over 15 years of experience in the field. Her passion lies working with children from birth to age five, focusing on their social, emotional, and cognitive development and on the pivotal role that parents and other caregivers play in that development. Sarah has a wealth of experience designing and leading social developmental playgroups, facilitating virtual parenting groups, offering one-to-one support for children and adults, and has experience working with families and children with special needs, medical fragility, and rare syndromes. Sarah also contracts as an Early Childhood Development Specialist for Lovevery, a company that designs play products that support children and families at each stage of their development.

Sarah holds a BA from Hamilton College and an MS.Ed from Bank Street College of Education, and she is licensed in Early Childhood Special and General Education. She and her husband reside in Manhattan and Vermont, where they enjoy the company of their two former toddlers, three cats, and a large golden retriever.

For more information about Sarah’s practice visit Piel Developmental Consulting.

Founder of Tara Sussman Yoga

Tara is a local Scarsdale mom of 2 young boys and a professional Yogi. She has a dedicated yoga practice of over 20 years and graduated with her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training from Peaceful Yoga in Malverne.

Tara received her Children’s Yoga Teacher Training certification through Cosmic Kids yoga in August 2023.

Influenced by Tara’s Guru and late mother Debby, a yoga teacher and holistic healer, Tara has set out on a mission to share the incredible benefits she gets from her own yoga practice with the community of all ages. Tara believes that regular yoga practice both on and off your mat is the key to happiness and a more peaceful life!

Follow on Instagram @tarasussmanyoga

Founder & Creator Happy Place Creative Studio

Our founder, Abby Spivak, earned degrees in Fine Arts, Art History, and Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Her unique background combines time spent in Art and Fashion departments at Ralph Lauren, Teen Vogue Magazine and Cosmopolitan Magazine, a decade in Product Development designing and producing clothes at Macy’s and five years as the Global Marketing Lead for GapKids and babyGap managing international creative campaigns. Abby has fostered a lifelong passion for all things creative; making things and expressing herself through drawing, painting, and crafting is Abby’s true definition of a happy place. Yearning for a creative outlet during her corporate years, she founded Further Lane Paperie, a design business dedicated to hand-painted invitations, paper goods and personalized items. In becoming a mom of two, constantly crafting in both normal and unprecedented times, she identified her desire to combine her two passions: art and kids. Happy Place Creative Studio is the culmination of this dream; a realization of a decades’-worth of ideas, projects close to heart and a desire to pass along the joy and excitement that she finds in making art and crafts to the next generation.

Follow on Instagram @happyplacecreativestudio

Allison has worked as a speech-language pathologist in schools, outpatient rehabilitation centers and private practice for the last 15 years. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Hearing and Speech Sciences from the University of Maryland and her Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology from Queens College.

She provides speech-language therapy to individuals and groups to improve their communication skills including receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language. Allison’s passion is working with children to help them realize and reach their potential and gain confidence using language in both academic and social settings. She currently works for the Rye Neck school district where she has been the speech-language pathologist at the Middle School and High School since 2018.

She facilitates many group therapy sessions with a focus on increasing the understanding of and use of social language and conversational skills through the use of explicit instruction, modeling, increased awareness, repetition, and visual and verbal support. As a mother to two young children, Allison believes strongly in building a good rapport with her clients and their families to establish a safe, individualized and motivating therapeutic environment.

Alex Edelman joins the Community of Play team with a personal mission to inspire families with special needs children. Her passion began from her own experience with learning differences. Diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder and dyslexia as a young child, Alex discovered how to turn her differences into strengths. In 2012, after graduating Cum Laude from the University of Arizona with a degree in Special Education and Rehabilitation, she fulfilled her dream of working in the fashion industry. For over a decade, Alex managed retail sales for luxury brands like x, x and Naked Cashmere. Despite her passion for fashion, Alex left the industry to support families and children struggling with the challenges she faced in her youth. As a Scarsdale resident, mother and friend, she is here to help this community find strength in the struggle.

Alexandria graduated from Adelphi University in 2015 with a Bachelors in Exercise Science. She further went on to receive her Doctorate in Physical Therapy in 2018 from New York Institute of Technology. She has been working with the pediatric population for the past five years in outpatient, school and sensory gym settings. She has worked with hundreds of children of all ages, including those with developmental delays, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, genetic conditions and torticollis. Her mission is to provide the ultimate care by educating parents and caregivers on ways to encourage growth and development in their child. In addition to Physical Therapy, Alexandria is a former Team USA figure skating member and Junior World Team competitor for synchronized figure skating. She continues to coach children of all ages and knows the importance of dedication and commitment in order to be successful.

You can learn more about Alex here!

Co-Founder, Little Talkers

Jen is a mom to her boys as well as an ASHA certified and New York State licensed speech-language pathologist. She graduated summa cum laude from Iona College earning a B.A. in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and earned a M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from CUNY Lehman College. Jen holds her TSSLD certification (Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disabilities) and is a PROMPT trained therapist with extensive training in social-emotional learning methodologies such as Social Thinking and Zones of Regulation. For over a decade, Jen has been working with children and their families to develop a wide range of speech, language, and communication skills in both New York City and Westchester County. She is skilled at understanding where a child is and how to scaffold in a way that both builds skills and supports independence. Jen is dedicated to making a connection with those she helps and is passionate about using literacy and play based therapy. Seeing her students succeed and use taught strategies in a meaningful way brings her immense joy and is the reason she always wanted to be in this dynamic and rewarding profession. For more information about Jen’s practice you can visit Little Talkers.