About Me

I am a Developmental Psychologist with a primary interest in parent-child relationships during early childhood and their impact on children's socioemotional development. I am interested in parenting of Typically Developing children but also those with Atypical development, such as children with Autism. I see parental insightfulness – the capacity to see and feel things from the child's point of view as a powerful factor that underlies sensitive parenting and provides children a deep feeling of being understood and secure. As children develop, their dialogues with their parents about emotional experiences assume increasing importance and are an additional focus of my research. I believe that all parents, with very few exceptions, are doing their utmost to promote their children's development. However, for various reasons related to the parent, the child, or the context, some face significant barriers in their capacity to fulfill this goal. It is the job of psychologists and other child development professionals to support parents' efforts to overcome these barriers, and I hope and believe that the research I have been working on over the last three decades can help in achieving this goal.