Hello, thanks for visiting my website.

I have worked for well over twenty years with children and their families. I began my career in New York City after completing my master’s degree at Columbia. It was my great fortune to work as an infant teacher in one of the first multi-disciplinary early intervention programs for developmentally disabled infants. I returned home to New Orleans to serve as the director of St. Jude’s Baby Village, a large daycare center for infants and toddlers.

While finishing my doctoral studies at Tulane, I moved on to direct one of the first demonstration projects for cocaine addicted mothers and their children. After a great deal of experience working with atypical development, I was eager to develop programs to promote parenting practices in low-risk populations. I started by teaching infant massage, and then developed the WeeWonders and TeeWonders parent-child programs which ran for a decade!  Home and clinic based parenting consultation, along with additional groups to address parenting and development came next.

I also became very active in local preschools and childcare centers, providing consultation and behavior intervention plans to providers. Concurrently I had contracts with the State Office of Mental Health, Early Steps, U.S. Coast Guard and Jefferson Parish to provide assessment, parenting, teacher training and early intervention services. I also had the honor of being selected for a fellowship with Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families. This experience allowed me direct access and mentorship with the giants in the field of child psychology including T. Berry Brazelton whom I consider my mentor.

Now, I am fortunate to have settled in to a private practice at Pelts-Kirkhart and Associates, LLC in Uptown New Orleans. Again I find myself in the company of admirable professionals in the field. I continue doing what I have done previously: parenting consultation, evaluation, behavior consultation, and training. And I continue to enjoy my work with infants and young children and developmentally different populations. I have added preschool admissions testing and psychoeducational evaluations (for learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and Autism Spectrum evaluations. I now provide services for children from infancy through adolescence. As a developmental psychologist, I use a systems approach to work with children. This means that instead of direct “therapy” to children, I tend to work with parents and teachers and other adults in the child’s world to promote development and behavior. It is an honor and privilege to serve the smallest citizens of our community.

Programs include:

Parent/Child Classes

• Dinosaur Camp/ Wonder Years – Enrichment for “Spirited Children”

Parenting Consultations

• The Fussy Baby Clinic- Individual consultation that addresses infant irritability, discipline issues and sleep problems
• Individual Parent Consulations
• Noah’s Arc- for parents considering adoption who want to prepare for parenting

Parenting Groups

• See Our Calendar- Dr. Blackwell is presently taking a break from parenting classes
• Your Spirited Child Workshop

Evaluations

• Autism/Asperger’s
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Psychoeducational Evaluations
• PreSchool Admissions Testing