As the Coordinator of Psychological Services, you may recognize Dr. Lauren Levenson from her parent talks at Gaynor, or her one-on-one work with students. But you may not have known that, aside from helping students navigate the minefield that is elementary school, Dr. Levenson’s biggest passion project at Gaynor is the social and emotional learning curriculum implemented throughout the school.
As part of our “Five Questions With…” series, we sat down with Dr. Levenson to learn more about her work at Gaynor as a psychology specialist, and what her journey at Gaynor has meant to her.
1. Have you always had an interest in child psychology?
Yes! I started working with kids at a day camp when I was a young teenager, I was babysitting for years after that, and in high school I took AP Psychology. So from my love for kids plus starting to learn about [psychology], I went to college like, “Yep. This is what I’m doing.” My path in psychology has changed a lot, but I studied developmental and intellectual disabilities all of college, and then got my doctorate in school psychology with a master’s in therapeutic interventions.
I was in a ton of placements in grad school, but I did my postdoc [at Gaynor], and then I was hired. So this is it! Which is interesting because my career path kind of changed. All the schools I worked in [during graduate school] were day treatment centers or therapeutic centers. I thought I was going to work with a developmental disability population, and then I fell in love with Gaynor.
2. We were going to ask how you found yourself here, but you were already here!
I was here! I did my internship at [another school] and I loved it, but it was very, very hands on. The psychologist did everything. [At Gaynor,] we have the privilege of having someone who is a liaison with the Committee on Special Education, but there the psychologist did everything. I did every “turning five” meeting, I did every IEP meeting, I did every behavior plan. It was just such a different format in a very clinical way, and Gaynor is very unique in the fact that we’re a school for kids with language-based learning differences, but it means so much more. There’s such a different spectrum to what that looks like. So I was here for a year and I realized this is much more of what I thought I would be doing in terms of implementing skills in my career. I took a very specific pivot. And then my role here has changed and grown so much, but that’s kind of what I love about it.
Dr. Levenson with her mother.
3. What do you enjoy the most about your role here at Gaynor?
The answer is the kids. They’re why I do this job. I love the fact that not every kid is the same. I love that I have the opportunity to meet them when they’re very young and grow with them because I think that that makes the community and the connection. That makes the job. Knowing a kid for six years, [seeing] the amount of growth they have from Early Childhood to the end of the Lower Division is remarkable. And so my favorite part is the kids. Also just watching their journey throughout the school and then being able to see what they look like another few years down the line and know that you were a part of that is very, very special.
4. What initiative at Gaynor brings you the most fulfillment?
This is a big one for me. When I started eight years ago, we were maybe one or two years into RULER [a social-emotional learning initiative from Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence]. I was on the beginning end of the implementation team, and we were still trying to figure out what RULER even meant for our school and how to embed it. It’s a very language-heavy program. How do we turn it into something that can work for our students? [Answering that question] is where I have spent so much of my time and energy. One of my favorite parts of my job is pushing into the classroom. I do weekly social and emotional learning lessons that parallels what I do for RULER. So basically with my team we’ve developed our own curriculum, which was kind of unexpected and unheard of, but every year we’ve done a different initiative, a different tool, figured out a different way to implement things.
Dr. Levenson with the Hogwarts castle at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.
I feel lucky because I build the foundation for what I am hoping the kids will learn and bring up. But SCL has been a very large part of my role here and it’s come very far in the last few years in particular. We always say we “Gaynorized” RULER, but we use the anchor tools like the Mood Meter, Class Charters, and Blueprint. It’s just the way in which we teach the actual curriculum has completely been adapted to what our kids need, which has been kind of incredible. Taking an existing program that we have a lot of investment in, but really making it work for our school has been amazing.
5. What do you do outside of Gaynor?
I have a full-time private practice which is a very big part of my life. So after school hours I see kids all over the city, which I love. So that is a very big part of my identity and my life and I love it. But I’m a very big friends-and-family-quality-time person. So anytime I can do something social and see my people is very big for me. I grew up in New York City, so some of my high school friends are still here, my college friends are nearby… My world is here.
Evidence of Dr. Levenson’s passion for Diet Coke!
I also try to make the most of the city. I love going to the park, I love going to museums, restaurants, doing whatever I can to close my brain off and enjoy free time. I love puzzles, Harry Potter, Disney, Diet Coke… Oh, how could I forget? I’m very big on getting my nails done. That is my self-care. The kids all know, and they’ll look for when I get something new. They really pay attention. So we can add that to the list.