INTRODUCTION
Hello, my name is Dr. Carol Leibovich – Mankes, also known as The Handwriting Doctor. I am a Pediatric Occupational Therapist, and Professionally Certified Parenting Coach/Educator. I am a mom of a child with a learning disability and also a woman trying to keep it real.
I’ve been working with kids and their families for 20 years. Throughout my career, as an Occupational Therapist, I assisted many families and kids with much success but becoming a mother made me an even better therapist. Being a single parent of a daughter, later diagnosed with a learning disability, helped me further understand the importance of becoming my child’s advocate. Becoming my child’s advocate meant working on acquiring further knowledge and use it as necessary, maintaining both of our composure and sanity, keeping strength, motivation, hope and working on my own self care. Our story, my child and I, is a story of perseverance in spite of life difficulties, acceptance, guilt, resilience, self reflection and understanding that “letting go” of what we imagined allows new windows to open welcoming new light and opportunities.
Please join me in this journey of self disclosure. I will discuss the challenges, lessons, adventures and rewards of parenting children with learning difficult(ies) and/or diagnosed learning disabilit(ies). I will also provide tips on child development, learning and effective parenting strategies in the hopes of fostering resilience and empowerment for the whole family.
Sincerely,
Carol Mankes