Jen and Esther are a unique team of dedicated moms and committed medical professionals. They love babies as well as educating parents on how to help their babies develop appropriately. This passion is also realized in helping of moms from disadvantaged communities. Read on to learn more about these dynamic sensory and developmental specialists and how they can assist you.
Jen Spiro
– B.Sc OT (University of Cape Town), B.Soc.Sc Social Work (University of Cape Town)
Jen′s passion lies in meeting the needs of babies and their caregivers. She has brought this enthusiasm to her work in paediatrics for 10 years. After qualifying with both social work and occupational therapy degrees, she specialised in working with newborn babies and children with learning difficulties. She has worked in community-based well baby clinics, provided occupational therapy intervention for children with learning difficulties, and run social skills groups with children and adolescents. She has also worked in private practice. Her postgraduate studies have led to a holistic philosophy in which she integrates various approaches to provide children with appropriate sensory integration, neurodevelopment and emotional and or cognitive intervention. Being a mother of two, together with her work and studies, has given her a wealth of insight into the emotional, physical and developmental needs of babies. Jen believes that providing the correct environment for your baby is of utmost importance.
Esther Nieder-Heitmann
– B Occupational Therapy (University of Stellenbosch), M Occupational Therapy (University of Stellenbosch)
Esther has studied and worked in the paediatric field for 35 years as a practising occupational therapist. She is also a trained pre-school teacher. Her fervent interest in babies and very young children culminated in quantitative research on premature babies and a model of occupational therapy intervention to secure the optimum sensory development of prematurely born infants. For this research she was awarded a Master′s Degree in Occupational Therapy, Cum Laude. As part of this research she developed the nurtureOne™ Nesting Cushion, which has proven to be equally beneficial to full term babies as to premature ones.
She is a mother of three well adapted adult children. Esther has also provided support in the establishment and running of a number of community based pre-schools. Esther′s motto is that a contained and happy baby contributes to relaxed parents who can enjoy their young ones.
