Meet the Learning seeds team!

25+ years of direct work with children.

After 25 years of successful real world, social and emotional teaching, employing innovative methods that sparked motivation and learning during real time play with peers, Erica developed techniques to train parents and educators to replicate these successes. 

Subsequently,  she developed the Learning Seeds organization to combine her most effective teaching practices with innovative technology, all focused on the goal of helping all children build positive social habits. It has proven to be singularly successful in helping children expand autonomy and build authentic social connections. 

Expertly researched “use now” strategies and techniques foster rapid improvements in behavior and social skills. A focus on “proximity” motivates children with “free samples” of the social world, well before they are required to “pay” for them with the tough skills of sharing, listening, and compromising. 

After receiving her degree from the University of Chicago and post graduate work at Northwestern University, Erica began developing these new, unique techniques, and her extensive work as consultant and professional development speaker has benefitted public and private schools, non-profit organizations, and parent groups. 

23 years of direct work with children.

Terri has a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Tufts University. 

She began her love of working with children and families with special needs at Boston College Campus as an undergraduate student while pursuing her BS in Biology from Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA. It was the students at Campus School that inspired her to pursue her Master’s Degree at Tufts University in Medford, MA. Terri provides evaluation and treatment of pre-school and school aged children with developmental delays, and fine motor/handwriting delays, sensory processing difficulties, and autism spectrum disorders. She has worked with children and families in schools, homes, hospitals and outpatient clinics. She enjoys sharing the skills gained from these settings with families while striving to help improve children’s function and participation, and also making life a little easier for families. 

10 years of direct work with children.

Cristina has a Master in Special Education Moderate Disabilities and ABA from Cambridge College.  She provides ABA services to students diagnosed with ASD. She has worked collaboratively with BCBA supervisors, general ed and special ed teachers, collecting behavior and skill acquisition data during sessions. 

As a toddler and preschool certified teacher, Cristina implements plans and procedures for incrementing adaptive behavior. She has assisted during daily routines management in all group ages, ensuring the safety of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. 

She encourages children to use materials and manipulatives. She reads and acts out stories for children to develop creativity and imagination, while reinforcing their knowledge throughout her workshops and creative art projects.

13 years of direct work with children.

Nina has a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Bilingual, Nina discovered her talent for communicating through and about teaching in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Valencia after receiving her BA in Early Childhood Education from Boston University. Realizing her desire to increase her impact as an educator, she returned to University for her MA, where she supervised undergraduate student placements in ESL work, followed by her work as an Education Coordinator and Instructional Coach. Nina provides support for parents and educators of young children, focusing on connections between home and school environments, mental and physical health service access, and social emotional learning. She supports children through this lens of seeing the whole child and creating a team around them.

11 years of direct work with children.

Jamie has a Master in Primary Education: Policy and Practice from the University College London. She began her career in education in museums with her BA in Art History and New Media Technology, then trained through the New Teacher Project with DC Teaching Fellows. 

Internationally experienced as an educator and researcher, Jamie has focused her career on early childhood education, social emotional learning, and bilingual education. Jamie began her work with Learning Seeds as a Social Impact Fellow, and is now engaged in managing research data, supporting our education practitioner researchers, our students and their families, and utilization of our research data.

10 years of direct work with children.

Emily graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy in 2014.  After working in summer camps and after school programs during high school and college, Emily was inspired to study the role of community based programming in child development while receiving her masters degree.  Emily has continued to work in after school, and camp programs full time, first as an AmeriCorps volunteer and then as an after school program director for the YMCA.   Emily is skilled at facilitating STEM, arts, literature and healthy living programs.  She is passionate about helping children discover their passions and make meaningful connections within their communities

Marri graduated from Boston University's Sargent College in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences. She is an experienced Medical Assistant in the greater Boston area, as well as a skillful caregiver for families with young children. Marri is an aspiring Physician Assistant (PA), and will be attending MGH Institute of Health Professions PA Program in the Fall. She began her work with Learning Seeds Inc. as a Social Impact Fellow, and now fills the role of Lead Service Coordinator for the Company. Marri brings a healthcare lens to the team, and continues to fulfill her passion of working with young children at Learning Seeds.

Rucha is a junior (originally from Ames, Iowa) at MIT; she is a candidate for a Bachelor’s Degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, on a pre-med track. She was nominated for the FRC Dean's List Award by mentors on her high school FRC team, was an NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Affiliate Award Recipient, and is a Dr. Bart Kamen Memorial FIRST Scholar. She is currently pursuing a research position in the O'Gara Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and is a TA for Intro Biology in her learning community. Outside of school, Rucha is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of TEDxMIT and is the Lead Speaker Relations & Media Specialist at Learning Seeds. Her interests include dancing on the MIT Bhangra team, traveling, and solving crosswords.