Annalisa Perfetto, Ph.D., ET/P — Educational Therapist and Author

Before I became a mother, I had it together. I was organized, reliable — the person who remembered birthdays, appointments, deadlines, and details. I earned a doctorate in literacy and became an educational therapist because I wanted to understand something that fascinated me: why did some incredibly bright people continue to struggle despite trying so hard?

Educational therapy gave me an answer that changed how I worked. Instead of asking “What’s wrong with this learner?” we ask, “Help me understand how this person learns, thinks, and experiences the world.” That shift — from judgment to curiosity — became the foundation of my career.

Then I became a mother, and the noise in my brain became constant. The educational therapist in me recognized what the overwhelmed mother in me could not: I wasn’t becoming less capable. I was experiencing the very executive functioning demands I had spent years helping my students understand.