About Me

The first thing I tell anyone about myself is that I love being a counselor!  I really do have the best job in the world.  When I am not working, I am either with my family or in class.  I am married to my wonderful husband Miguel, and I have three children and two Pomeranians.  I enjoy reading and going to the movies with my family.  My husband and I enjoy going out to eat and reading.

I have a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology (University of Texas at El Paso), a Masters of Education in School Counseling (Dallas Baptist University), and I am a Certified Elementary Educator, English for Speakers of Other Languages Instructor, and an Early Childhood through twelth Grade Counselor in Texas and Mississippi.   I recently began my doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Parents and Infants at Fielding Graduate University.  My areas of interest are: Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mental Retardation, and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder), Early Childhood Intervention, family participation in the treatment process, community awareness of available programs, sibling coping, and Selective Mutism.  Eventually, I hope to offer low fee or no fee services for children and families coping with disabilities. 

I am the proud parent of a child with disabilities, and what a difference he has made in my life.  I am forever changed.  He has made me an advocate.  I began my education several years ago with the intent of helping my own child.  As I continued on, I discovered the vast need for specialists in this area. I continue my education not only for my son, but for all of the families out there who are just like us.  I hope that my education will equip me with the tools to serve, and I know that my son has given me the open heart to listen. 

I am so thankful for how my life has turned out.  I can only sum this up by saying how lucky I am to currently live in Holland (see below).  May I always see in color.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND 

by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip -to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

" Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...about Holland.

By Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.