Dr. Michelle is the founder of Water's Edge Healing occupational therapy practice in Whitestone, New York. Michelle earned her Bachelor's Degree in history from the University of Binghamton and her Bachelor's Degree in occupational therapy from the University of Buffalo. Her initial training was in geriatrics and adult rehabilitation in her staff positions at Montefiore Hospital and New York University's Rusk Institute. She then focused her work on the pediatric population with school-aged children and early intervention.
Michelle is a constant seeker of knowledge, having attended many workshops on sensory integration, Judith Bloomstone's HANDLE approach, and Dr. Stanley Greenspan's DIRFloortime approach. Michelle's seeking has also led her to study alternative modalities of reflexology, polarity, and cranial sacral therapy. She incorporates many of the principles and techniques from these alternative modalities into her work with special needs children. For example, she has taught parents a reflexology protocol they can use at home to help their special needs child to have a calmer body. She has done extensive literature reviews on mirror neurons and has written several articles explaining their significance in the brain and with the autistic population. She also written several articles on sensory integration for the autistic and learning disabled populations.
Check out Michelle's interview with our own Floortime Specialist Heidi!
Check out Ms. Colletti's most recent published articles:
The Creation of Emotion: The Journey from Interoception to Embodied Self-Awareness
The Creation of Emotion Part II
Reflexology and the Special Needs Child
Neuroception: A Subconscious System for Detecting Threat and Safety
Specializations: Occupational therapy, Sensory Integration, Floortime, Reflexology, Cranial Sacral, Polarity
Client focus: Children and adults
Services available: In person | Insurance: No | Sliding scale: Yes