About Dr. Laurie Zelinger
Dr. Zelinger
was born and raised in Queens, New York. She is a
successful product of the New York City public school
system, from kindergarten through graduate school.
After graduating "cum laude" from Queens College with a
B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education, she
continued at Queens College to earn a Master’s degree
and a Professional Diploma in School Psychology. Dr. Zelinger accepted her first job at Willowbrook
Developmental Center where she worked for eight years
before taking a break to raise a family. Later, with
four children and the urge to get back into the work
force, Dr Zelinger learned the art of balancing
motherhood and career. She returned to work part-time
and earned a Ph.D. in School/Community Psychology from
Hofstra University. The New York Association of School
Psychologists honored Dr. Zelinger with the Ted
Bernstein "Outstanding Graduate" Award. Years later,
she completed additional training in order to become a
credentialed play therapist. Her learning goes on with
continuing education courses.
Dr. Zelinger is a New York State Licensed Psychologist
as well as a Certified School Psychologist in New York
State, New York City, and New Jersey. She is also
a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor of the Association
for Play Therapy
and in April 2009, was elected to the position of "Director"
on the Board of Directors for the New York State branch of
the organization. Dr. Zelinger has additional
certification in the following areas:
The
Grieving Child Bereavement Certification, Banana Splits
Divorce Program, Child Abuse Prevention, NYS OMRDD Behavior
Management of Aggressive Clients, and in CPR (including
updated re-certification). Dr. Zelinger
recently completed
certification
as a Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team
Associate Volunteer.
Since 1996, Dr. Zelinger has been a full-time School
Psychologist with the Oceanside, NY Public Schools where she
works with elementary students and provides supervision to
graduate student interns from many local universities. In
addition, she has a private practice in Cedarhurst, NY where
she treats children and their parents. Dr. Zelinger has held
Adjunct Clinical Supervisor positions at Pace University's
Psychological Services Department, St. John's University and
NYU Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Zelinger's previous employment includes School
Psychologist positions with the Lawrence, NY Public
Schools, Nassau BOCES, Staten Island Developmental Center
and the Little Meadows Early Childhood Center. She and a
friend developed and ran
a Mommy and Me Program
for two years called, ‘The Brandeis School Early Childhood
Center’ in Lawrence, NY during the years she was raising her
children. Later, she taught
graduate courses in
Special Education and Psychology for seven years, for the
College of St. Rose. In
previous years, when
she was a student, Dr. Zelinger completed internships at six
clinic and school facilities.
Dr. Zelinger's
memberships in professional organizations have included
the
American Psychological Association, New York State
Psychological Association, Nassau County Psychological
Association, and Association for Play Therapy's National and
New York State Divisions. In the New York State
Psychological Association, her contributions have included service
as Chair of the Task Force on Child and Adolescent Issues,
Information Officer, Media Ambassador, and member of the
Disaster Response Network. She is a Media Referral Service
Ambassador for the American Psychological Association's
Public Education Campaign.
She also enjoys writing a column
called, Grin and Share
It,
which she developed for the
newsletter of New York State branch of the Association of
Play Therapy. Dr. Zelinger and has held many volunteer
educational and community
service positions, including those as Co-chair of the Board
of Education in a local school and Commissioner and coach of
a community soccer league.
She has given numerous
presentations to professional associations, such as the
international conference on the Association of Play Therapy,
National Association of School Psychologists and
presentations to many teacher and parent groups.
On a personal note, Dr. Zelinger's
interest in children dates back to her days as a young
babysitter and became the foundation of her later pursuit of
school psychology and play therapy. During the course of
her professional career, she and her psychologist husband,
Dr. Fred Zelinger, raised four boys. As parents, they
learned first hand the difference between reading about
children and living with them!
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