Ms. Gurdin also provides parent coaching to help parents implement behavioral strategies to improve behavior, encourage independence, and build stronger family relationships. Ms. Gurdin is also a Part-Time Lecturer in the ABA Program and College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University.

Prior to starting her own private practice, she worked as the Clinical Coordinator for LABBB Collaborative in Massachusetts. In this role, she supervised a team of BCBAs, provided clinical oversight, managed home-based programming, consulted with school teams on complex cases in area school districts, conducted staff trainings, and provided ongoing consultation to classrooms across the collaborative. She also was the ACE Coordinator for the BCBA Roundtable at EDCO Collaborative in Massachusetts. She currently coordinates a BCBA Roundtable for LABBB Collaborative and offers continuing education workshops for local school-based behavior analysts.

Supervising graduate students for BCBA certification

Mentoring new behavior analysts

Conducting school assessments and consulting to educational teams for students with complex profiles

Conducting compassionate homes assessments and providing parent coaching

Collaborating with professionals across disciplines

Evaluating special education programs

Helping school districts improve collaboration and communication across team members and implement both classroom-wide and individualized proactive behavioral strategies

Ms. Gurdin earned her master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Northeastern University and her certification as a behavior analyst (BCBA) in 2001. Early in her career, she was a part-time lecturer in the undergraduate psychology department at Northeastern University and a mentor for students in the graduate program in behavior analysis at Simmons College. She also worked at The May Institute, Inc. where she designed and managed a company-wide mentor program that matched experienced professionals with entry-level employees to assist them with career development. She also developed, coordinated, and marketed parent training workshops through a grant from the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation. In addition, Ms. Gurdin coordinated, designed, and taught classes for the Certified Brain Injury Specialist Program. Her early publications were also in the area of pediatric brain injury.

As a mother of 3 children, Ms. Gurdin knows the challenges and rewards of raising kids and running a household. Family life is always evolving especially as new situations and needs arise. As such, it can be very difficult to address all of the needs of a family while also taking care of yourself. Ms. Gurdin approaches her work with this understanding. She considers the reality of a student's life at home and in the classroom when making recommendations and works collaboratively with all team members to find interventions that are feasible to implement. Ms. Gurdin has found that practical interventions are more likely to be implemented regularly and, therefore, lead to the desired behavior change. 

When she is not working, she is taking care of her three children, ages 19, 18, and 13, and two golden doodles.

Amy is an education professional with a 20 plus year career spanning K-12 grade level experience in teaching, coaching, counseling, intervention, and special education leadership roles in both public and private schools in Massachusetts. She holds a Master’s degree in School Counseling and a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. As a lifelong learner and advocate, she has completed additional graduate course work and professional development on student and family support, inclusivity, and special education through the years.

She is also a trained mediator and restorative justice facilitator. Ms. Benjamin began her career as an inclusive elementary school teacher and quickly became more interested in supporting students’ social and emotional needs and lobbying for equal access for all students. Ms. Benjamin then served as a high school guidance counselor and interventionist, fostering student success, and supporting families. She established the guidance department at a private special education school on the North Shore, supporting students with social and emotional learning disabilities, specializing in college searches for schools that would best support students with learning differences and empowering students to self-advocate for their needs.

Educational Consultation to Families

College Counseling for Neurodiverse Students

Educational Consultation to School Districts

Ms. Benjamin also worked at the state level with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as an Educational Specialist. She conducted comprehensive school district evaluations throughout the Commonwealth focusing on special education, civil rights, and English learner education regulatory compliance through data analysis and documentation review, produced comprehensive follow-up reports, assessed corrective action plans, provided important technical assistance to school administrators, and visited school systems throughout Massachusetts. Ms. Benjamin ventured back into the public schools and pursued special education leadership. She served as a Special Education Administrator/Out of District Coordinator in a mid-sized suburban school district, Director of Special Education Programs at a high school in Boston, Special Education Therapeutic Program Manager at a large, urban district, Team Chairperson at a large, urban school district, and as a Middle School Special Education Coordinator at a large suburban district. Responsibilities included advocating for students’ needs and collaborating with school principals and department heads, ensuring overall regulatory compliance with IEPs and the IEP process, approving final drafts of IEPs, overseeing staff and specialized student programming, leading staff development and provision of staff mentorship, planning professional development activities, on-going classroom, program, and staff evaluation, family support, collaboration with state and community agencies, determination of appropriateness of student placements, along with whatever else was needed to ensure that students were allowed equal access and making effective progress.

Amy is now devoting more time to helping families understand, navigate, build strong, working relationships with educators, and make informed decisions for their children while directly helping school districts enhance their educational practices for all students. She lives in Boston with her husband, two school-aged daughters, and two dogs. She truly values family time and understands the importance of “filling your own cup” as a working mother and making sure to take time for yourself. In her free time, she enjoys watching her daughters’ sporting events, crafting, traveling, spending time at the beach, skiing, playing soccer, and reading.

Sarah’s areas of interest and expertise include evaluating and developing effective special education programs, working with students on the autism spectrum, using visual supports to strengthen instruction, providing effective behavioral supports in the classroom, including all students in general education settings, meeting the needs of transition-age students, and coaching/mentoring new administrators. She has presented in school districts on a wide variety of topics and has also worked as an independent presenter, providing training to private companies and non-profits in the Boston area.

Sarah earned her B.A. in Child Study from Tufts University and her M.Ed. from Gallaudet University. Her passion is supporting staff and families to facilitate the success of students with disabilities in their schools and their communities.

In her work with parents she specializes in children who have language-based learning disabilities and dyslexia. She has experience with special education in both public and private schools. In the Brookline Public Schools, MA, she was a special education teacher working in a district-wide language-based program. She also coached general education teachers with regards to how to differentiate their teaching to meet the needs of children with language-based learning disabilities. At the Carroll School in Lincoln, MA, she was a middle school Language Arts teacher and an Orton-Gillingham tutor for 10 years. She is a member of the Orton-Gillingham Academy at the Certified level.

Dinan also consults with schools to help them bridge the gap between theory and practice in the implementation of structured literacy programs. She has experience in both public and private schools. At Prospect Hill Charter Academy school in Somerville, MA and currently at Codman Academy Charter School in Dorchester, MA she works with K-3 teachers to help them operationalize what evidenced-based structured literacy looks like in the classroom.

She is the past president of the board for the Massachusetts Branch of the International Dyslexia Association and is currently the regional representative for the northeast. She has an M.A. in Child Development from Tufts and an M.Ed. from Lesley University, with a licensure in moderate special needs.