Dear Friends,

Valentine’s Day has become a great opportunity for children to share their love and care for all the special people in their lives. We look forward to celebrating Valentine’s day with the children and families at PCDA.

The feelings of warmth, joy, and trust in relationships is at the heart of the DIR approach. From this foundation, children learn to negotiate all the challenges in growing up to become secure and confident adults.  I invite you to read about all the special happenings at PCDA below, and join us in celebrating in the month of February!

Dr. Diane

Diane Cullinane, MD    
Executive Director

Diana has a B.S. in Public Health from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). She has an extensive background as a health educator, working at Glendale Adventist and the CSUN Peer Health Exchange to support children and families have healthy habits. Diana has also worked as a student intern developing curriculum in an early childhood learning center.

Since joining PCDA in June 2018, Diana has worked with our Social Skills, Teen and SEDI programs. She is thoughtful and well prepared when working with her clients, going above and beyond to make sure they have the best support. Diana seeks out her co-facilitators and is wonderful addition to our team philosophy. We are so proud to recognize Diana as Developmental Interventionist of the Month.

One More Word: 

Hour after hour on a typical day at PCDA you can find the speech-language pathologists busily engaged in helping children find the words to say what they are thinking.

One strategy we use is to repeat what the child says and "Adding One", to provide that just right model to help the child learn to talk. For example, if a child points to a jar of bubbles and says, "buh buh", the parent could open their eyes wide, smile broadly, nod and say, "Look! Bubbles!" adding the word "Look!". It's okay if the child does not imitate the parent's words. He is listening and learning what he might say next time. By adding only one word the adult expands the child's statement just enough to provide a challenge while still keeping the phrase short, simple and meaningful.

Adding One is just one of many strategies that you can use to help your child learn to communicate. We're here to teach you more!

A big THANK YOU to all of our dedicated volunteers who came out to help this month:

We are pleased to announce that we have hired Callie Henningsen as our new Art Therapist!

Callie recently joined the Child and Family Counseling Department, as both an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, and an Associate Art Therapist. She will be providing clinical intervention services, with an emphasis on the therapeutic use of art. Callie will also be working closely with the Creative Arts Department, offering adapted art lessons and classes, and she will be helping to bring art and our therapeutic use of art even more to life here at PCDA!

This book is narrated from the child’s perspective, as the child (actually a little elephant in overalls) begins to see his father’s side of things. This is a humorous, playful, and loving look at the events that make us emotionally respond the way we do.

• 12 ounces plain yogurt
• 2 cups cut up fruit (Use a variety for your experiment. Examples include: blueberries, bananas, cherries, mango, grapefruit, peaches, raspberries, oranges, pineapple, plums)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 6- 5ounce paper cups

Instructions 

1. In blender, mix 2oz. yogurt (about ¼ cup) with 1/3 cup fruit of your choice and a pinch of honey. Blend until smooth.
2. Pour mixture in to 1 paper cup.
3. Repeat for each different pop type you would like to make.
4. Cover each cup with foil and insert craft stick in to center of each pop.
5. Place in freezer until frozen (may take 4-6 hours).
6. Once frozen, Enjoy!