San Diego Kids First Practicum Student
Emma is a practicum student at San Diego Kids First. She has a bachelors degree in clinical psychology and a minor in industrial/organizational psychology. Emma is currently completing her doctorate at Alliant International University. She is from Washington state and graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2022.
Emma’s previous experience includes working with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and adults in crisis homes. Currently, she provides individual assessments and therapy to young children under the supervision of our San Diego Kids First Director, Deborah Pontillo, Ph.D. In Emma’s free time, she enjoys going to the beach, skateboarding and hiking with her labradoodle.
What Others Say About Us
I am a general pediatrician with a special interest in ADHD, spending about 20% of my clinical time caring for ADHD patients. I have known Dr Pontillo since 2005 and have an enormous respect for her clinical skills and insights. She is my “go to” psychologist for more complicated developmental issues and for diagnosis of subtle high functioning disabilities. Dr. Pontillo’s interest in her patients and her ability to clearly delineate developmental problems allows parents to move forward with establishing a treatment plan. She is an invaluable resource to the San Diego Pediatric community.
Dr. Pontillo is an exceptional, and one-of-a-kind child psychologist. I have referred many children of my patients to Dr. Pontillo and she has always given them the best care and attention. Referring a patient to another professional is a big responsibility. I always look for a colleague who is efficient, professional, experienced and one who is able to come up with a clear diagnosis. I keep referring to Dr. Pontillo because of her expertise, efficiency and especially her warm and caring personality that is extremely necessary when dealing with children. I very highly recommend Deborah Pontillo, Ph.D as a child diagnostician, developmental and behavioral specialist, and therapist.
I’ve been referring my patients to Dr. Pontillo for the past several years with the utmost confidence that she will care and understand their developmental needs. Dr. Pontillo always provided them with a balanced and age appropriate intervention to help not only the child but the family as a whole.