Lauren Tobing-Puente, PhD

Connected Growth & Wellbeing was founded by Lauren Tobing-Puente, PhD to support individuals' development, including clients as young as toddlers through adulthood, and their families. Dr. Tobing-Puente's private practice has grown since 2006 to meet the needs of the neurodivergent community, now as a dynamic group of licensed psychologists, postdoctoral psychologist, and mental health clinicians. Their specialties include the assessment and treatment of neurodivergent individuals (from toddlerhood through adulthood), including autism (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as children with a range of social-emotional challenges and/or global developmental delays. Families are an integral part of the work they do. While focusing on the whole person in a neuroaffirming manner, they work closely in collaboration with school personnel and other treatment providers. They specialize in using the DIR (Developmental Individual Differences Relationship-based) philosophy and related Floortime strategies, which allow them to carefully consider the whole child (or young adult), his/her many individual differences, and his/her relationships in a strengths-based, respectful manner. Their approach promotes social-emotional development by addressing the underlying challenges that children and young adults experience that may impact their ability to regulate, interact, express feelings, cope with challenging feelings and be reflective. Other complementary approaches are incorporated as appropriate. Services are provided in two New York offices located in Union Square, Manhattan and Bayside, Queens. Their offices are child-friendly and are considerate of those with neurodevelopmental differences. Their unique multidisciplinary Bayside suite includes a sensory gym, which enables them to address underlying challenges in sensory regulation that impact an individual’s social communication and social-emotional functioning, as well as provides opportunities to informally assess challenges in movement. They continue to provide a range of services in various modalities by telehealth, including by video and telephone. They use a HIPAA-compliant video platform for psychotherapy, consultation, and some aspects of evaluations.