Fostering Positive Development on the Autism Spectrum, with Dr. J. Trocchio, Dr. L. Moyano & Y. Mora-Perea | EDB 278
Positive Development’s Dr. Jennie Trocchio, Dr. Lina Moyano & Yomayra Mora-Perea share their work creating a new option in therapy for neurodivergent individuals.
Dr. Jennie Trocchio is an autism educator, speaker, Developmental Therapist, and Vice President of Clinical Operations at Positive Development. Lina Maria Moyano, Ed.D., L.C.S.W. is an Autism Mental Health Care Professional and Clinical Director (Florida) at Positive Development. Yomayra Mora-Perea is a Neurodiversity Advocate and Business Development Manager (Florida) at Positive Development.
Positive Development’s mission is to “…help people with autism and other developmental differences build connections and shape their futures.” Positive Development follows the Developmental Relationship-Based Intervention (DRBI) model. From their website: “We help people with autism and other developmental differences build connections and shape their futures…”
“…Started in 2019, [the company] is rooted in decades of experience with autism and other developmental differences. [Their team members] are parents, family members, self-advocates, and clinicians who believe deeply in the power of the developmental approach because [they] have seen firsthand how it has transformed [their and their] loved ones’ lives. [Their] passion… is to build the evidence base for developmental therapy, expand access to more families, and pioneer best practices for clinical support and care for individuals.”
For more about Positive Development:
https://www.positivedevelopment.com/
And look for them on the social media at:
https://twitter.com/PositiveDev
https://www.linkedin.com/company/positive-development-inc/
https://www.instagram.com/positivedevelopmenttherapy/
https://www.facebook.com/positivedevelopmenttherapy/
AUDIO PODCAST VERSION:
Or look for us on your favorite podcast provider:
iTunes | Stitcher | SoundCloud
FULL TRANSCRIPTION
DR HACKIE REITMAN (HR):
Hi, I’m Dr. Hackie Reitman. Welcome to another episode of Exploring Different Brains. And today, I’m very excited because it’s not often you get at the birth of a new concept. And we’re right here in the labor room where being born here is this great concept called positive development. And we’ve got Yomayra, Lina, and Jen, all here, and we’re going to get into what this great new thing is. So we’re going to start with self introductions. Yomayra, you go first.
YOMAYRA MORA-PEREA (YMP):
Hi, there. I’m Yomayra Mora-Perea, I’m the Business Development Manager for Positive Development here in the state of Florida. And my job is really just to get the word out there, like you said about this new model of care and our company and all the great things we’re doing. Thank you for having us.
HR:
Thank you for being here. Lina you’re up.
DR LINA MOYANO (LM):
Hi, I’m Lina Moyano, I am the clinical director of Positive Development here in South Florida. And just really excited to have this opportunity to share this and to, you know, lead the clinical team and help many families with this offer that we are offering.
HR:
Thank you for being here. And a veteran of these podcasts, Dr. Jennie Trocchio.
DR JENNIE TROCCHIO (JT):
Hi, there, Hackie. It’s such an honor to be back. So I am the Vice President of clinical operations at positive development. So I helped make sure that throughout all of our 11 sites that things are running smoothly, and that we are helping every single child and supporting every single family to the best of our abilities.
HR:
Well, since you’re the Vice President, I’m going to let you explain to our audience in a minute or less. What is Positive Development?
JT:
Sure, a minute or less is tricky. But we can do this.
HR:
Let’s do two minutes.
JT:
Okay, so we are a new developmental therapy organization. So we are different first and foremost, because we are developmentally based, we’re not behavioral. So we are really looking at the whole child we’re looking at where they are developmentally, we’re looking at the unique ways that each child takes in and processes the world around them. And we work on building those relationships, both us with the children, but also importantly, between the parent and child. So that way, effective interactions can happen not just in the therapy rooms, but at home throughout daily interactions. And so what we do is we have all services for family. under one roof, we have speech, OT, mental health. And then we have what we call developmental client coaches, which are essentially play partners who go in and help support the family. So with all of these services, we as a team actually work together and communicate with each other, to make sure that we are all using the same effective strategies throughout services. So that way, it’s not the families having to coordinate all these different things, we’re able to do it for them. And a really exciting and new piece of this is that Positive Development has made it possible for this type of therapy to be covered by insurance. And that’s like, groundbreaking, because to date, it hasn’t been so families have had to pay out of pocket if they want this. But that’s no longer the case.
HR:
Well, that is certainly a big, big factor very big. Do you want to tell us what DRBI stands for?
JT:
Sure. So DRBI is developmental relationship based intervention. So basically, I know I’ve come on here before and I know Lina has as well to talk about Dir. And so DRBI is sort of like a big umbrella for all developmental approaches. So now we do dir but we also incorporate pleat project, and other research based approaches that fall under that umbrella without us having to be tied to just one model. Because our kids are so different. So we want to be able to use whatever tools and strategies we can to help each individual.
HR:
So Yomayra, you’re you’re kind of have to make sure everything’s running good and all these different places. How do you set a standard when you have multiple locations?
YMP:
Well, we work together we have a very strong business development team and we all work together to kind of develop a plan but really, it’s different in every state. The insurances, you know, that cover our services are different in every state, some states take Medicaid, some don’t. So really, it’s being flexible in that we’re sticking with, you know, our model and our branding and everything that we want people to know about Positive Development, but really being flexible in that every state is different and all the families and all the states are different. So it’s been a whirlwind since I’ve been here but you It’s so great getting the word out there. And like Jennie was saying, people don’t know that we’re covered by insurance. So it’s never been an option before. And now that we are, that’s a big focus of what I’m doing is just getting out there and letting people know you have another option. And even your your pediatrician or your diagnostician might not know you have another option either. So really just educating the community and getting the word out there.
HR:
And one of the things I liked about your whole approach is the importance of the family involvement. And Lina, you want to speak to that a little bit, please?
LM:
Totally yeah. So the way that we understand the work, our clientele, is that the client is the family system, not just the child. But really, we think that it’s important to give the family the caregivers, the support, so they can be successful, supporting the child. And I know that sounds redundant, but it’s really it’s really about supporting the family. So the family can do it. And there’s a lot of things that are important to keep in mind being sensitive to the needs of the family, and the parents as well as we’re being sensitive to the needs of the child as well. So it’s actually a big component of what we do.
HR:
the unique protocols that you use, how was that developed?
JT:
Ah, that’s a really good question Hackie. So a lot of our protocols actually started, in the very beginning of the pandemic, when we had a core group of amazing professionals who have been studying this approach for years and years, decades plus in some circumstances. So as the world was shutting down, we had an opportunity to work together virtually, and to really put our minds together, because so many of us have had our private practices, where we were in our own little bubbles, our own little silos, so to get to work with other professionals who are as passionate about it as we are, and to really just brainstorm, you know: what’s the best way to do this now that we’re not alone now that we have a team? And so that’s really where a lot of our initial materials stem from is some of those amazing brainstorms.
HR:
And what do you call this technique?
JT:
Huddling maybe? I don’t know, we haven’t officially coined it yet. But, it really was always a really fun, exciting huddle. And, you know, it might sound ridiculous for some other people that we thoroughly enjoy things like coming together and talking about what do we want on a post session note, and you know, then, of course, we come up with this elaborately beautiful template that also would take an hour and a half to complete. So then we bring it back down. So a lot of sort of collaboration and trial and error and, and keep working together until we feel like it’s working for everybody.
HR:
What states are you guys in so far?
YMP:
We’re in California, New Jersey, Illinois, here in Florida. I know, we’re just opening up in the DC/Maryland area. East St. Louis. I miss anyone? It’s really been amazing. I’ve been here 11 months, and we went from like four locations to 12 and 11 months. So we’re growing so quickly, and it’s so exciting to be a part of it.
HR:
That’s great. And I know here in South Florida, I think there’s an importance with our demographics here to be bilingual. Are your places bilingual in nature?
LM:
Yeah, and many of our therapists are bilingual. And we’re sensitive to, you know, accommodating families with with, you know, just having the comfort of speaking in their own language.
HR:
As one who lives in a Spanish speaking household and doesn’t speak Spanish in tackling Duolingo regularly.
LM:
Keep it up Hackie.
HR:
El perro es muy eligante. I don’t know when I’m gonna get to use that one. But that’s a good one.
LM:
I think that’s a good one.
HR:
If someone is living in a state, someone in our audience, as a child who’s a little bit different, like here at Different Brains, listen, it could be autism, it could be ADHD, it could be a million different things. How do they find that if you’re in their state, or how can they get you in there?
YMP:
So really, our number one tool right now is our website and our social media sites is really where we post all our information is positivedevelopment.com. And then you can also follow us on social media as @positivedevelopmenttherapy. And there you can find all the updates of where we’re located and new locations that may be in the works as well.
HR:
How do you go about opening up the conversation with the insurance carriers?
JT:
Well, so I think one thing that is pretty huge with insurance companies is that using a developmental approach, we can, we can get a lot, we can develop very effective intervention for a fraction of the amount of hours and the fraction of dollars. And so while we like to think that insurance companies really care about each and every individual’s well being, I hope it’s not too controversial to say that, you know, at the end of the day, to find out that there’s a different approach that is cheaper and more effective — that’s really raising eyebrows, and that’s helping us to get in the door. And, you know, our first sight is here in Florida. And as we made so much progress, it’s really great to then share that progress with other organizations with other insurance companies across the country. And we’re also starting to do some research. And so the more numbers come in, they’re pretty impressive, to say the least. And that’s really helping. So we’re able to sort of show it from a number of different perspectives, how effective this type of therapy can be, and why not give it a shot? And everyone who has so far has not been disappointed.
HR:
What have you guys found to be the main obstacle?
LM:
I think families not knowing. They think as Yomayra was saying, you know, if you go to the pediatrician, and you go to your neurologist, and everyone is talking about one option, it might be challenging for the families to access this, and to get this information have something different. And that’s why we’ve been doing a lot of outreach and you know, just talking to different organizations, different groups of people to make people aware that there is another option here.
HR:
How can I audience learn more about positive development, just go to positivedevelopment.com?
YMP:
Yes, we also have a general number where they’ll be connected with one of our care coaches where they can ask all the questions and kind of, you know, review all the information with with someone that can talk them through the process, and even help them with the insurance as well. If you’d like I can give the number it’s 833-587-1784. And that’ll connect them with the Care Coach in their state.
LM:
If I can add to add to that, we’re also open to having people coming and visiting the clinic. So if anyone wants to come and check us out, please, you know, by all means, just call and make an appointment. And we’d love to have you visiting our space.
HR:
Can you say something about the physical facilities, what they’re like?
LM:
They’re pretty. Right now I’m working on the therapy rooms. What I can say about the facilities that we have put a lot of heart and a lot of effort into making it feel very welcoming, and very homey, you know, sometimes you go to therapy centers that feel very cold and scary. And what we have been intentionally wanting to create is a place where everyone feels welcomed, and everyone feels at home. And then with that in mind, whatever skills the parents are learning here, it can be also translated at home, because the environmental ready feels like home.
HR:
Aside from the people who are on this call, are there any other the key players you’d like to mention here?
JT:
Oh, there’s so many. There are so many, we have a truly incredible team. So we’re…
HR:
And I’m giving you the opportunity to get all of them mad at you by only saying one or two. So I guess you mean you’re safer not mentioning any names, because if you single one of them out, what did the others kind of say?
JT:
Well, or I’ll throw a couple out…
YMP:
Our version of the Oscars when you forget. So thanks.
JT:
So I guess I’d like to give a huge shout out to Mike Suiters, who’s our CEO. And he’s the one who really had the vision and who realized that this was a huge gap in the market. And then our see, oh, Maryanne Nugent, who just is incredible. And this approach helped her child and her family. And so she jumped on board right away. They’re both incredible. We have a whole insurance verification team that’s just working on getting the insurance contracts. We have an incredible marketing team that’s working on getting everything out there. Shout out to Stacy and Jesse. We have incredible Clinical Directors in each state. All right. So that’s my start anyone.
LM:
So I want to say that we work with a lot with technology and we have an amazing team working with an app that we have. So you know, just like to make it easy. everything in one place people go weighing and, and that’s also, you know, an important piece of what we’re doing. So it’s exciting.
HR:
Well, we have followed Jennie Trocchio’s career for about 100 years. She looks good for her age. Is there anything that we have not covered that you guys would like to cover today?
YMP:
I mean, a big one I would say is to aside from our website is to follow us on social media, we have so many things coming in the next few months that, you know, everyday, we’re adding new dates for other grand openings and other states. We have some, you know, Halloween events coming up for some of our kiddos and just everyday we’re adding a lot more information. So social media is really where you’re gonna get the most information from us. But really giving us this platform to just inform, you know, the whole community that they have another option, there is another model of care. That, you know, these therapies are not one size fits all. And there’s other options. So we think you
HR:
Well, thank you. Well, Yomayra, Lina, Jen: it has been a pleasure to have you here. We hope you’ll come back again. And visit us here in our Fort Lauderdale office here. And let’s brainstorm about some stuff because I love when a new concept comes along, that addresses something that nobody’s really tackling in such a forthright way. So I salute you. Thank you all for being here. Positive Development is where it’s happening and keep up the great work and we’ll see you guys again real soon. Thank you.
JT:
Thank you Hackie.
LM:
Thank you Hackie.
YMP:
Thanks.
