“Each child comes to me with their own unique story, their own set of circumstances. But what every child has in common is that each is the source of limitless opportunities for support, structure and success.”
Highlighted New Service: Dyslexia Screening
An Educational Therapist with more than 25 years of experience, Sheri is dedicated to meeting struggling students’ emotional, social, and academic needs. She works with a wide range of the pediatric population (and beyond), providing dyslexia assessments and targeted intervention to children and teens with ADHD, learning disabilities, executive dysfunction, and weak cognitive, auditory, or visual processing skills. With all her clients, Sheri’s mission is to provide each child with limitless opportunities for support, structure, and success.
What sets Sheri apart from other advocates is that she always has first-hand experience working with the child before requesting an evaluation or entering a school meeting. As a result, she can offer the school her informed observations, beneficial strategies, and specific recommendations unique to each child. Additionally, Sheri has held the unique position of working with IEP teams as both a school-employed Educational Specialist and a private Educational Therapist, quite literally sitting on both sides of the table. Over the years, Sheri has successfully secured specialized services and appropriate accommodations for hundreds of K-12 students in public and private sectors.
Sheri views each child from a holistic perspective, considering emotional, social, and behavioral issues that may impede learning. By exploring additional contributing factors, such as physical, sensory, speech, language, or processing delays, Sheri can offer the IEP team valuable information and feedback. Sheri starts by working with each student individually to identify the challenges that may impact or prevent academic success then formulates individualized and targeted recommendations for specific evaluations, treatment plans, and services.
Educational Advocacy is multi-faceted. Sheri’s services include: Parent meetings, Review of records, One-on-one educational therapy sessions with the child/teen, Writing a letter to the school requesting an evaluation, Providing referrals to private evaluators and specialists, Ongoing communications, and follow up with the parent and school, Parent coaching and consultation, Consultation with physicians, psychologists, SLP, OT, and school personnel, Administrative work/preparation for the meeting, IEP meeting-full participation, Debriefing immediately after the IEP concludes.
Sheri lays the foundation of success by creating a warm and trusting rapport with students, parents, teachers, physicians, and allied professionals. Sessions are individualized and specialized, integrating a variety of practical, creative methodologies along with evidence and brain-based therapeutic learning tools. In this way, Sheri prevents and circumvents the cycle of frustration, failure, and despair that affects so many children and their families—and replaces that cycle with joyful learning.
Sheri graduated with a B.A. in Child Development with a specialty in Child Mental Health. She went on to earn both Multiple Subjects and Special Education Teaching Credentials and a Master’s Degree in Psychology.
What Others Say About Us
I would highly recommend San Diego Kids First. They are caring and knowledgeable and have helped the many clients I have referred to thrive academically and socially.
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.
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. Deborah Pontillo and her team are a rare gem in the field of child and adolescent psychology. As the founder of Kids First, she has created a concierge-style, full-service practice that offers truly comprehensive care. From psychological testing and diagnostic evaluations to individual therapy, parent coaching, and school consultations, her team addresses the full range of developmental, emotional, and behavioral needs with an exceptional level of professionalism and warmth.
Dr. Pontillo stands out not only for her clinical expertise, but also for the care and attention she brings to every family she supports. The practice is highly personalized — families are never treated as just a number. She works closely with parents, schools, and other professionals to coordinate care, ensuring that each child receives thoughtful, tailored interventions that evolve with their needs. Kids First is the only practice I recommend in the San Diego area. Dr. Pontillo and her team are trusted, skilled, and truly invested in helping children and families thrive.
They are truly experts and so kind! My son was struggling in middle school, and they supported us through that experience. I love that they offer a full continuum of care for families from parenting, child and teen therapy, as well as support with educational struggles and will work with the schools to help advocate for your child. I highly recommend them!!!
We have trusted San Diego Kids First with our family for the last five years. I have two neurodivergent children that both received diagnoses and therapy with Dr. Pontillo and Dr. Gamboa. My daughter has an amazing connection with Dr. Pontillo. Through her sessions we were able to help sleep patterns, adjust behaviors, and practice self-love. I appreciate that we can receive holistic care with educational and coaches on the team. We have had Dr. Rivet help us create a household that works well for us, and the Educational Specialist, Ms. Sheri Friedman was able to help my daughter move from well under grade-level to thriving above grade-level in one summer. Sheri was also an incredible advocate for us through the IEP process. This entire team is incredibly knowledgeable, patient and understanding. We are forever grateful that they are in our lives. ADHD and ASD can feel so overwhelming and I couldn’t have done it without Dr. Pontillo and her team.
Dr Deborah Pontillo provided us with amazing service for our daughter when a teacher suggested she get evaluated for learning differences. Dr Pontillo’s treated us (my husband and myself as well as our daughter) with empathy, respect and professionalism. She is relatable and down to earth as well as brilliant. We were not prepared for the diagnosis our daughter received yet Dr. Pontillo helped us understand what it meant for us as well as what treatment/therapies were most appropriate. We took her recommendations and trust her so much that, 4 years later, we continue to trust Dr Pontillo with her thoughts and suggestions. We highly recommend Dr Pontillo, would never go anywhere else for pediatric psych evaluations and her services were worth every cent.
Immersed in a community of families that put their children above all else, I have been lucky to meet and learn from Dr. Pontillo and am proud to call San Diego Kids First the only place I refer. Dr. Pontillo expresses an impassioned energy for being a well-respected leader in child psychology and it’s that energy that I want in a psychologist for my family and friends. Parenting decisions, I have found, require an artful and nimble approach and having the ability to use San Diego Kids First makes me feel at ease among the many uneasy parenting decisions we all must make.
Dr. Gamboa is absolutely phenomenal. She’s warm, patient, and so accommodating. She really makes the experience feel so comfortable. My daughter wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. Her expertise is top notch and I wouldn’t trust anyone else – truly! Thank you Dr. Gamboa!
I’ve known Dr. Deborah Pontillo for many years and have always been impressed by her deep expertise, professionalism, and dedication to the families she serves. She has over 20 years of experience in the field and also serves on the voluntary faculty at UCSD’s Department of Psychiatry, where she helps train and mentor future clinicians.
Her practice, San Diego Kids First, is an invaluable resource for our community – an interdisciplinary team of professionals focused on the developmental and behavioral health of children and teens. What really stands out is their collaborative approach — the team works closely together to understand each child and family from multiple perspectives, ensuring care that’s thoughtful, coordinated, and comprehensive.
As a colleague, I trust Dr. Pontillo and San Diego Kids First completely and have referred many children, teens, and families to her over the years. I know they will receive outstanding, compassionate, and well-integrated care.
I am so grateful for Dr Pontillo. She is very bright, compassionate and thorough. She helped evaluate my daughters and guide us in the direction to support them the way they needed. I can’t say enough how wonderful she is.
I highly recommend San Diego Kids First as a resource for your child’s mental health! Their intake process is easy and seamless and they have numerous skilled therapists to choose from to meet your child’s needs. This is my primary place to refer children and families and I have only heard great feedback about this group. I have also seen the positive change that has taken place in my client’s children as a result of getting services from them!
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.
As a clinical psychologist and owner of a company that provides similar services, I truly admire the work that SDKF does in the community. I refer clients to them frequently and with confidence. Dr. Pontillo has built a strong, compassionate, and multidisciplinary team that offers a wide range of services, including psychological testing, social skills groups, in-home therapy, and academic support. SDKF is a true gem in the San Diego community, and their dedication to helping children and families shines through in the quality of the work they do.