Rebecca is a licensed pediatric therapist with over 32 years of experience in the assessment and ongoing development of young children. She is also a Certified Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, ADOS-2, Administrator. She completed her rotations at UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA as well as in the pediatric behavioral unit at St. Luke’s Hospital in Phoenix, where she stayed on to do PRN work. She opened a private practice in 2001, which continues to operate and focus on therapeutic interventions for children ages birth to five. She also served in the Maricopa County Southeast Region Healthcare seat for First Things First during the 2020 pandemic.
Rebecca now specializes in pediatric assessment with an emphasis on the early identification of developmental delays and Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has teamed up with Dr. Nilam Khurana as the Clinical Director for Pediatric Developmental Connections, in a partnership that will work to support families across the state of Arizona.
Rebecca prides herself on providing nurturing, individualized support to each family and brings with her a high level of clinical competence regarding pediatric assessment and brain development in young children. She works to cultivate a sense of hope for each family and is directly involved with the team of clinicians at PDC to develop plans of care for each individual child based on their unique needs. Rebecca’s focus is to reduce the age at which autism is diagnosed in young children across Arizona. “Many children with a speech and language delay are told to ‘wait and see’…and this often delays critical supports that can significantly improve their development. Because a delay in language is often an underlying component of ASD, families often wait to receive a comprehensive developmental assessment from certified staff or are told by other healthcare professionals that their child will ‘grow out of it’. We need to change the narrative in the healthcare community and increase education regarding early, comprehensive assessment, as this will directly impact the futures of young children in a significant and positive manner”.
