In over 40 years of clinical practice, Dr. Peg Dawson has worked with thousands of children and teens who struggle at home and in school. At the center of their struggles are often weak executive skills. Along with her colleague, Dr. Richard Guare, she has written numerous books on this topic for educators, mental health professionals, and parents, among them Smart but Scattered, Smart but Scattered Teens, Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents, and Coaching Students with Executive Skills Deficits. Peg is also a past president of the National Association of School Psychologists, and the International School Psychology Association, and is a recipient of NASP’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mim Ochsenbein, MSW, OTR/L has been a practicing pediatric occupational therapist for over 25 years. She received her BSc in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1996 and her MSW from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2012. She has received advanced training in sensory integration (SIPT certification, STAR ProCert1, STAR ProCert2), listening therapy (Therapeutic Listening, iLs), feeding therapy (SOS), DIR, mental health (DC:0-5 Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood), and infant massage (CIMI). Her work in occupational therapy with children and youth has occurred in a variety of settings including early intervention, school based, clinic based, mental health and private practice. As a social worker, she provided case management, program development, and program management. Mim has taught both university level (California State-Dominguez Hills) and professional continuing education courses since 2013, spoken internationally, and has co-authored works for professional publications. She has been in her current role at STAR Institute since 2017 at the invitation of Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, FAOTA, OTR.

Dr. Samuel D. Mandelman is the founder and clinical director of The C.L.I.N.I.C., a multi-specialty practice specializing in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health and learning-related issues, where he conducts neuropsychological evaluations as well as differential diagnosis consultations. Dr. Mandelman, Ph.D. holds a doctorate from Columbia University in Educational and Developmental Psychology as well as a specialty in Clinical Psychology/Neuropsychology. Dr. Mandelman conducted research at Yale University’s Child Study Center on the individual differences in cognitive ability. He completed his clinical training at Weill Cornell Medical Center in the departments of neurosurgery and psychiatry, where he conducted neuropsychological evaluations on both adults and children. Dr. Mandelman holds Rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Dovid Feinstein ZT’L and Rabbi Nota Greenblatt ZT’L. Dr. Mandelman is a close disciple of Rabbi Elya Brudny SHLIT’A.