I joined the Thrively project for 3 simple reasons: Intuition, Passion, and Excitement. Every day I get informed by parents, “I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can do for my child.” To me, Thrively is a great aggregate of valuable resources and information that will continue to build upon itself so that we move children away from mindless time on screens and engage them in the world and with people. It is also an opportunity for parents to learn about their children and in some cases to be surprised by them. I look forward to the emails I receive for my own children and have already found myself saying, “What a great idea!”
Dr. Jonine Biesman is a Board Certified Pediatric Neuropsychologist and Clinical Psychologist who has been licensed in the state of California since 2001 and in Private Practice since 2003.
Before establishing a private practice, Dr. Biesman worked at a multitude of settings including nonpublic and public schools, community mental health centers, child and family agencies, residential treatment centers, brain injury facilities, and hospitals. She has served as a Medical Expert for the Social Security Administration; has been adjunct faculty at Phillips Graduate Institute and Fuller Psychological Seminary; as well as being involved in training students at California Lutheran University, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, and Child Psychiatric Fellows at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Brandeis University and her Graduate degree from Alliant International University in San Diego. Additional training was completed at the Fielding Institute through their post-doctoral certification program in Neuropsychological Assessment and Intervention.
Dr. Biesman specializes in working with children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders as well as their parents and larger family system. She is highly specialized in the area of Autistic Spectrum Disorders and can evaluate and provide consultation for very young children, being instrumental in establishing early diagnosis and intervention programs and herself providing essential treatment components. While Dr. Biesman has vast training focused on early intervention needs; she also regularly assesses children, adolescents and young adults with a variety of learning, attention, sensory, executive functioning, and psychological barriers — focusing on identifying essential elements of important transitions including matriculation to higher grades and to college settings.
Determining appropriate academic and testing accommodations is central to her assessment process in those cases for which such needs are indicated. She regularly conducts school and home observations and attends IEP meetings to advocate for her students’ needs. With Dr. Biesman, the approach to testing is flexible, sensible, comprehensive and consumer-driven. She buys coursework examines each case individually,
facilitating a greater understanding of essential strengths and areas of need while ensuring that referral questions are answered clearly and thoroughly. Recommendations are specific and helpful in the context of a well-formulated overall treatment plan.
Dr. Biesman devotes as much time as needed to each test case, including follow-up, advocacy, education of parents, and concern for her students’ well-being during the evaluation — always seeking optimal levels of performance. As well as conducting comprehensive neuropsychological assessments, Dr. Biesman is finalizing an advanced certification in Floortime Intervention through the Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning Disorders founded by Dr. Stanley Greenspan. She regularly provides DIR/Floortime therapy, consultation, and parent coaching in the model. Dr. Biesman is an active member of the American Psychological Association, National Academy of
Neuropsychology, Interdisciplinary Council on Developmental and Learning
Disorders, and the DIR/Floortime Coalition of California.