Wellspring Educational Services Inc

Dana Sassone, PhD.

Dana holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from U.C. Berkeley and is the mother of three. She spent most of her 30+ years in public education as a school psychologist and special education administrator in the San Ramon Valley and Lafayette school districts.

Dana held and promoted two core beliefs during her years in public education: every child can receive a quality education in the neighborhood public school and parents are genuine partners in the special education process. Driven by those beliefs, Dana worked in both districts to develop individualized programs and to provide high quality individualized services in neighborhood schools while including parents in all aspects of their child’s IEP. One program exemplifying the success of incorporating these beliefs was the Early Intervention Program in the Lafayette School district, which Dana developed in partnership with Robin Hauge and other district staff. This program evolved over the years and included highly respected instructional programs such as the Hanen Programs (It Takes Two To Talk, More Than Words), Behavior Management class for parents and the Early Start Denver model.

The emphasis of these programs was to employ relationship-based behavioral analytic strategies, focused on interpersonal exchange, shared engagement and positive affect. Fundamental to the success of these programs was partnering with parents, so that the successful strategies used in the classroom could be integrated into the home environment. Dana’s partnership with parents also extended to her responsibilities for special education programming for children K-12 and building structures that supported ongoing parent involvement. In developing Individual Education Programs, Dana approached the process looking at the unique qualities and challenges of each child and, whenever possible, employed a “start with a blank piece of paper and create a program” approach to developing that child’s IEP.