OPPORTUNITIES FOR A GREAT START IN LIFE
UCP’s Early Intervention service is designed to give children birth through three years old the opportunity to reach their full potential.
SERVICES AVAILABLE IN CUMBERLAND/PERRY, DAUPHIN, LANCASTER, LEBANON, AND YORK/ADAMS COUNTIES
Our Early Intervention Services include:
Nutritional Therapy
Proper nutrition is essential to a child’s overall health and development. UCP’s Registered Dieticians work closely with families to adapt, modify and assess nutritional needs to ensure a child’s overall well-being.
Occupational Therapy
Being able to function and engage in everyday routines (such as sleep, meals, play and social activities) is vital to a child’s development. UCP’s Occupational Therapists assist families in developing strategies related to self-regulation, fine motor, and routines so that a child can be an active participant in the family unit.
Physical Therapy
Seeing your child achieve major motor milestones is every parent’s vision. UCP’s Physical Therapists work alongside you to teach you how to best support your child in reaching those goals so the success can be celebrated together!
Special Instruction
Social emotional play is an important part of cognitive skill development. Through play, Early Childhood Special Educators teach families how to engage their child in everyday learning.
Speech/Language Therapy
Communication is the key to having any need met. UCP’s Speech and Language Pathologists collaborate with families to encourage modeling of strategies (including use of technology) for language development.
Meet the Team
Amara Kreider
EI Credentials: OTR/L; Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Elizabethtown College, Bachelor of Science degree in Health Science from Elizabethtown College, currently licensed in Pennsylvania as an occupational therapist and nationally certified as an occupational therapist.
Specialty Areas: Amara has a number of years of experience serving babies and toddlers in Early Intervention plus years working with school age children in educational and outpatient settings. Amara has specialized training related to sensory challenges and needs, feeding difficulties, children’s emotional health and regulation and tethered oral tissues (TOTs, or tongue and lips ties). Specifically, Amara has most recently completed “SOS Approach to Feeding”, “Treating Complex Feeding Problems: Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers” and trainings focusing on Sensory Processing and Sensory Integration in pediatric populations. Amara understands children’s movements and responses to their environment, recognizing how to manage their reactions and behaviors. Amara encourages parents to meet their children’s sensory and regulation needs and skillfully educates parents in ways to improve their child’s functioning and participation in daily life routines and tasks. From feeding obstacles to sleep concerns, Amara shares her knowledge with caregivers and embraces current research to enhance outcomes. Amara serves families with commitment and caring and truly appreciates the impact of early intervention support.
A Little About Amara: Amara lives with her husband, son, dog and two cats and enjoys play time and walks, baking and reading. Amara’s creativity, diligence, and attention to detail instruct both her personal and professional life. Amara always looks forward to special time with family and friends.
Diana Ritter
EI Credentials: OTR/L; Master’s in Occupational Therapy from Chatham University; Bachelor of Science in Health Science from Drexel University; currently holds a PA license as an Occupational Therapist
Specialty Areas: Diana has prior experience in outpatient pediatrics, early intervention, and a school-based setting. She has assisted children with diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, developmental delay, failure to thrive, and genetic disorders. Diana has helped multiple families achieve goals regarding accepting more foods, accepting new food textures, progressing to age-appropriate foods, sleeping through the night, creating an age-appropriate nap/sleep schedule, using and developing their fine motor skills in order to participate in play and meal time, supporting their child through potty training, utilizing sensory strategies to support their sensory needs, improve their attention during play skills, and by helping their children to participate and complete daily tasks such as dressing and grooming (i.e. bathing, toothbrushing). Diana is an active member in the American Association of Occupational Therapy (AOTA) and Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association (POTA), which enables her to stay current and up-to-date on current research in order to provide evidenced-based therapeutic support to her families.
A Little About Diana: Diana has two young children of her own. She enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, family, and friends outside of work. Skiing, jogging, attending library story time with her children, traveling, and exploring community events are hobbies she enjoys.
Rebecca Verderame
EI Credentials: OTR/L; Masters in Occupational Therapy from Husson University; Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on Neurosciences; currently holds a PA license as an occupational therapist.
Specialty Areas: Rebecca has years of experience working as an OT in an outpatient setting with infants through high school aged children, as well as experience in elementary and middle school settings. She has also worked as a behavioral support staff with a focus on helping children with Autism. She has assisted families with children who have diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, developmental delay, feeding delays, muscular dystrophy, and genetic disorders to incorporate exercises and strategies into their everyday routines at home, as well as identifying adaptations where appropriate. Rebecca’s areas of greatest knowledge include sensory processing strategies, feeding disorders, and improving play skills. She enjoys helping families to learn more about why specific strategies are effective so they will have the confidence to identify similar ways of helping their child beyond their time in therapy.
A Little About Rebecca: Rebecca lives with her two cats and enjoys creative hobbies with her friends such as crocheting, cross stitching, music, playing boardgames and crafting. She also enjoys spending time with her family whenever possible, and loves to settle down with a good book. Her personal experience with early intervention is what drove her to initially become an occupational therapist and she hopes to help others just as much as her family was helped.
Shannon Baker
EI Credentials: I graduated with my DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) from Widener University.
Specialty Areas: Shannon worked for 13 ½ years in a pediatric outpatient clinic with children birth to 21 years with a wide variety of diagnoses including torticollis, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, chromosomal abnormalities, down syndrome, and autism to name a few. She have always felt that the partnership between families and therapists is crucial which aligns perfectly with the philosophy of early intervention.
A Little About Me: My journey to early intervention started long ago. I have always loved children and started babysitting when I was twelve. I worked in a day care center for several years and went to college for Early Childhood Education. As part of our coursework, we were required to observe occupational, physical, and speech therapy sessions. During a physical therapy session, I saw a preschool child take independent steps and everyone was cheering. It was so exciting, and I knew this was what I wanted to do, how I wanted to help children. I changed my major and became a physical therapist. Even though they are my “work children”, I could not be prouder of their accomplishments. Some of my proudest moments are when a family tells me they came to see me because another family recommended me because they were pleased with their therapy sessions or a family brings a sibling to see me. Physical therapy is not just walking and running, it starts with weight shifting and includes rolling, sitting, transitions (in and out of positions), crawling, climbing, walking, steps, running, jumping, hopping. Parents of babies have often commented that they cannot believe how tired the baby is after therapy because it just looks like they are playing. Physical therapy can be hard work for children, but my goal is to make that hard work as fun as possible and part of daily life.
Erin Coyle
EI Credentials: Erin Coyle is a licensed physical therapist who received her BS in physical therapy from Russell Sage College. She has been practicing pediatric physical therapy for over 30 years, and she has provided Early Intervention services for over 25 years. Erin is committed to continuing to develop her knowledge and skills and to keeping current on best practice through ongoing continuing education. She has obtained specialized training through completing the NDTA (Neurodevelopmental Treatment Association) 8-week Pediatric Certification course and the 2-week Advanced Baby course.
Specialty Areas: Erin is able to draw on her experiences working in a variety of practice settings (hospital, rehabilitation center, outpatient specialty clinic, school, childcare/preschool, and home), working with children from infancy through adolescence, and working with children presenting with a wide variety of diagnoses including, but not limited to, prematurity, torticollis, plagiocephaly, Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, genetic disorders, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, autism spectrum disorder, and neuromuscular disorders when supporting the families that she provides services to through Early Intervention. Erin has experience working with children with complex medical needs and with children who are recovering from cardiac and orthopedic surgical procedures. She has experience with adapting infant equipment to meet children’s positioning needs and with ordering specialized positioning and mobility equipment.
A Little About Erin: Erin’s passion for working with babies and children began to develop early in life while growing up in a large family. It has continued to grow through her experiences working as a pediatric physical therapist, spending time with the many children in her large extended family, and raising her son who is now in college. Erin enjoys collaborating with families and other team members to promote children’s development in all areas and to provide supports needed to allow children to fully participate in family routines and activities at home and in the community.
Diana Merkel
EI Credentials: Diana is a licensed physical therapist who received her BS in physical therapy from New York University in 1981. She obtained her master’s in physical therapy with a specialty in pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been practicing pediatric physical therapy for almost 40 years and has provided Early Intervention services for over 10 years. Diana has obtained specialized training through completing the NDTA (Neurodevelopmental Treatment Association) 8-week Pediatric Certification course and the 2-week Advanced Baby course. She is also certified in Infant massage and has completed her training as a certified autism specialist. As she continues her education, topics have included treating torticollis, development and treatment of pediatric ambulation, evaluating the foot and orthotics, treating the hypotonic child, myofascial release, total motion release, taping, treating children after cardiac surgery, sensory integration and sensory processing, feeding, autism and behavioral management and EI policy/best practice
Specialty Areas: Diana is passionate about coaching and enabling families to help their children to enjoy movement and to use it functionally. She has experience working in a variety of practice settings (major medical centers, NICU, associate Professor at Duke University in pediatrics, pediatric rehabilitation center, outpatient specialty clinic, school, Hippo and aquatic therapy and home-health), She has experience working with children presenting with a wide variety of diagnoses including, but not limited to, prematurity, torticollis & plagiocephaly, developmental delay, neurological impairments, cardiopulmonary issues, cerebral palsy, genetic disorders, brachial plexus injuries, Down Syndrome, rare genetic disorders, complex medical needs (especially post NICU and cardiac surgeries), and has experience with children with feeding and eating difficulties, and sensory issues.
A Little About Me: I have always loved being with children and helping in a variety of ways. I started babysitting at a young age and spent my teenage summers volunteering at different camps for children with disabilities. I homeschooled my 4 children through high school. Now, I spend my free time waiting to be a grandmother and volunteering in various organizations. I love hiking, gardening, crocheting, cross-stitching and sewing.
Morgan Levitz
EI Credentials: Morgan Levitz has Bachelor’s degrees in Communicative Disorders and Spanish and a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. She currently holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), a Speech-Language Pathologist license and an Education Specialist certificate level 1 in the state of Pennsylvania.
Specialty Areas: Morgan has 5 years of experience working with children across age-ranges and exhibiting a variety of diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorder, childhood apraxia of speech, expressive and/or receptive language delay, Down Syndrome, hearing impairment, and visual impairment among others. Morgan has completed trainings and continuing education in Autism Spectrum Disorders, ABA, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), aided language modeling, social skills/executive functioning, and behavior modification.
A Little About Morgan: Morgan relocated to the Mechanicsburg area in 2016 after finishing graduate school. She is originally from the Poconos and loves to go back to visit. When not engaged in speech-language related activities, she can be found enjoying quality time with her family, friends, fiancé, and cat. Her favorite hobbies include swimming, running, reading, and traveling to new places near and far.
Patti Linnane
EI Credentials: MA/CCCSLP; Masters in Communication Disorders and a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communications; currently holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) from the American Speech/Language/Hearing Association; currently holds a PA license as a Speech Language Pathologist.
Specialty Areas: Patti has 23+ years of experience with 22+ years of experience in Early Intervention providing evaluations, therapy, and consultation in both the home, classroom, day care and community settings. Patti has experience in working with a variety of diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorder, apraxia of speech, developmental delay, expressive language delay, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, hearing impairment, and dysphagia. Patti has completed trainings and continuing education in Autism Spectrum Disorders (including early diagnosis, coaching with families, and targeting intervention goals), apraxia of speech, communicative temptations, ABA, PECS, sensory integration, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), American Sign Language (ASL), social skills/executive functioning, behavior modification, sleep concerns, potty training, and gluten free/casein free diet. Patti has experience working in inclusive classrooms at childcare facilities-part of a childcare classroom for 9 years; she works well coordinating with other disciplines. Patti feels she works well with families, being able to come up with plans that best support the family and child in their natural environment and in their daily routines. She loves empowering families through coaching so that the families have the strategies and tools to best help their child succeed.
A Little About Patti: Patti has been working for UCP for 22+ years. She lives in Lower Paxton Two. with her husband, daughter, and dogs. She loves all sports and is an avid ultra-runner and triathlete.
Laura McCone
EI Credentials: Laura is a licensed speech-language pathologist who received her Bachelor’s in Speech Pathology and Audiology at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and her Masters in Communication Science Disorders from Pennsylvania State University. She currently holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) from the American Speech-Language Hearing association (ASHA) and a PA license as a Speech-Language Pathologist.
Specialty Areas: Laura has experience working with children diagnosed with including autism spectrum disorder, expressive and receptive language delays, apraxia of speech, and a variety of developmental disorders. She is trained in many augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices and supports, including various dedicated devices, iPad apps, low-tech and mid-tech systems. She supports multimodal communication which includes using speech, gestures, sign language, pictures, etc. to communicate. Additionally, she is trained in adapted literacy instruction for children with complex communication needs due to a variety of developmental delays and disorders. She is passionate about including families in speech therapy sessions to find functional strategies and supports to address the goals on the Individualized Family Services Plan (IFSP).
A Little About Laura: Laura is eager to support families with children who have complex communication needs. When she is not working as an SLP, she can be found in Mechanicsburg spending time with family and friends, playing volleyball, watching Penn State sports, reading, and playing with her dog.
Danielle Norris
EI Credentials: MS/CC-SLP; Bachelors of Science degree in Speech/Language Pathology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Masters in Science degree from Nova Southeastern University; currently holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) in Speech-Language Pathology from the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA); currently holds a PA license as a Speech Language Pathologist; has 13+ years of experience working with the pediatric population in early intervention (birth to three and 3-5 year olds) private practice, school, and home setting. Danielle has been working for the Capital Area Intermediate Unit for 6 years and UCP for 5 years.
Specialty Areas: Danielle has experience in working with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Down Syndrome, Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and has had training and experience in American Sign Language and use of various augmentative communication devices (Go Talk Now, Proloquo2Go, LAMP).
A Little About Danielle: Danielle lives in Harrisburg with her husband, son (1 ½), and two dogs. Danielle pursued this career because she has always loved working with children and was passionate about helping them to communicate. She finds this career path extremely intrinsically rewarding and is happy to be a part of the Early Intervention community. Danielle believes in using the whole language approach in order to enhance the lives of children, and assist them in finding the most effective method for each individual child to express their wants and needs and improve their quality of life.
Sarah Cooper
EI Credentials: BA in English Literature with previous ECE Certification Birth- Grade 3. She is currently enrolled in a master’s program through the University of Minnesota pursuing a degree in Applied Child and Adolescent Development with a focus on Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.
Specialty Areas: Sarah has worked with young children and their families for the last 17 years. She started her career at UCP Central PA as a Special Instructor and IU preschool teacher. Her most recent position was as an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant. She spent a decade learning with children, families, teachers and early childhood programs. Her focus areas are relationally based supports and interventions that all begin with a respectful, culturally sensitive understanding of a family’s goals and priorities. This includes attachment, behavior, sensory needs, and parent-child interaction. She believes that all behavior is communication and when we seek to understand, we are empowered to support. As a foster, adoptive and biological parent who received EI therapies for two of her children, she is intimately familiar with the harrowing, humbling and hallowed journey.
A Little About Sarah: Sarah resides in Harrisburg with her soulmate-husband and children. After attending college in Pittsburgh, she became a die-hard Steelers fan and loves cheering them on! Sarah is passionate about the care and support for young children and their families and knows intimately the often-heroic journey it takes to be a parent. She is honored to be called to walk with families who are brave enough to ask for help.
Norys Muñoz
EI Credentials: B.S. in Arts with a minor in Elementary Education in the University of Puerto Rico. Completed coursework at HACC in Early Childhood Education when she decided to move and settle in Central PA with her husband. As a Special Instructor she has completed courses on social and emotional development, responsive routines and environments, challenging behavior, autism spectrum disorder, as well as courses related to helping children who need to develop their play, cognitive and pre-language skills.
Specialty Areas: Norys worked for 23 years as an Elementary School Teacher in Puerto Rico. In PA she worked 10 years as a Lead Teacher in an Infant/Toddler classroom as well as a Director and Assistant Director in two Early Learning Centers. She is bi-lingual and fluent in Spanish. There she had the opportunity to establish a bilingual program where children learned words/word expressions in Spanish through songs and books. Her experience as a lead teacher has helped her to have a good communication with the teachers in Daycares, to work as a team with them and to coach them in the management of the best practices for the well-being of not only the children in her charge who receive early intervention, but for all children in general in the classroom. She works with parents paying attention to their cultural beliefs to develop simple and interesting activities within their daily routines with materials available at home. She helps them develop the confidence in themselves to help their children achieve their goals. She shows parents that we all have musical and artistic skills (art/dramatic play) and that we can use them to encourage their children to participate in developing their language, social and cognitive skills.
A Little About Norys: Norys and her husband enjoy spending time in nature. She loves traveling to Puerto Rico to visit her family, especially her son, grandson and her mother. In her downtime she enjoys music, watching television or reading and creating art. She often will be searching for new activities and ideas using everyday items to share with her families and their children.
Lynnette Meek
EI Credentials: Lynnette is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with over 30 years of experience. She received her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and a Master of Science in Nutrition from Colorado State University with her thesis focusing on special diets used within the Autism Spectrum. She is currently licensed in Pennsylvania, and also Utah, since she moved to PA just a few months ago.
Specialty Areas: Lynnette has been interested in nutrition long before graduating from college, and she has found it to be a most rewarding career! As a dietitian she has worked in almost all areas of nutrition, including hospitals, clinics, home health and long-term care, as well as schools, communities and businesses. She loves the relationships that develop with home health visits, and the opportunity to provide nutritional options that result in solutions, success and relief. Lynnette is very familiar with the nutrition requirements of children, having worked with the state of Idaho in reviewing the Child Nutrition Programs in schools and childcare centers for a number of years. She also promoted the “Fuel Up to Play 60” program in schools that focused on empowering students to make healthy food choices to fuel active play each day. While working on her master’s degree a few years ago, Lynnette focused her thesis on the gastrointestinal issues associated within the Autism Spectrum. She researched the different therapeutic diets to determine what the evidence-based guidelines and outcomes were for children with Autism. Earlier in her career, Lynnette received the certification for Child and Adolescent Weight Management and was the dietitian at a summer camp for children with Juvenile Diabetes in Utah. When not actively working as a dietitian, Lynnette has used her expertise in many volunteer settings, and provided classes in the community such as, “Nutrition for the Caregiver”, “Nutrition and Mental Health”, “Super-Tasters” and “Nutrition 101”. Lynnette and her husband lived in Chile for three years, during which time Lynnette learned Spanish sufficiently to converse and read in another language.
A Little About Lynnette: Lynnette and her husband moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to their 4 married children and 9 grandchildren who had all moved to the east coast for work or schooling. Family activities are Lynnette’s favorite past-time, which include boating, skiing and hiking. She also enjoys gardening, reading and cooking for a crowd! Lynnette is a history buff and is so excited to live in Pennsylvania to discover more about this beautiful state!