Helping practitioners & caregivers connect with children
Every interaction with a child is a chance to understand more.
Translating children's behaviors into meaningful communications for connection and participation.
Helping practitioners & caregivers connect with children
Every interaction with a child is a chance to understand more.
Translating children's behaviors into meaningful communications for connection and participation.
With children, the small moments matter most.
Dr. Mary Beth Kadlec is a pediatric occupational therapy educator, clinician, researcher, and mentor. Her lifelong work is focused on how adults talk to children, the most effective ways they guide them through activities, and how those interactions affect how children engage and develop.
Her work helps practitioners, caregivers, teams, educational institutions, and organizations get better at showing up for children in a way that helps them participate, engage, and feel seen, heard, and met. That's the heart of the O.P.T.I.C. (Observational Program for Transforming Interactions and Connections) approach: observe, understand, and transform how adults and children connect.
Even skilled practitioners seek guidance.
You're doing great work and still finding it challenging to achieve the outcomes you're looking for. Maybe you're a clinician who can feel something is off but can't quite name what to change. A program director looking for something deeper than another training checklist. Or a practitioner who wants a thinking partner who's been where you are.
Mary Beth has spent her career helping people who care deeply about children in exactly these moments. She brings clarity, practical tools, and a way of seeing what's really happening in the interaction — so that a child feels met, seen, and cared for.
"When the people around a child have depth, nuance, and confidence in interpreting what a child is really communicating, that’s when real change happens. That’s what I’m here for."
- Dr. Mary Beth Kadlec
See what's really happening.
THE O.P.T.I.C. APPROACH
Then transform it.
At the center of Mary Beth's work is O.P.T.I.C.: Observational Program for Transforming Interactions and Connections.
It starts with looking closer. Using video recording and guided observation, Mary Beth helps practitioners and caregivers see what's actually happening during their interactions with children. The questions they ask, the guidance they give, the way they respond when a child gets stuck. Through a safe, supportive, reflective process, she helps you understand what's working, what to shift, and why it matters.
Even the most well-intentioned practitioner brings blind spots to their own communication with children. Mary Beth has distilled four decades of clinical research and experience into a process that makes those blind spots visible, measurable, teachable, and effective. Caring adults learn to modify their interactions and see immediate shifts in how children respond.
You are a powerful agent of change. When you learn to see what children are really communicating, everything shifts — for them and for you. O.P.T.I.C. helps you get there.
Trainings, Speaking, Mentoring, & Consultation
Trainings
Workshops and presentations for practitioners, interdisciplinary teams, educators, and clinical program staff on video analysis, caregiver involvement, sensory processing, autism, ADHD, neurodevelopmental conditions, and understanding children's behavior through a developmental lens.
Mentoring
Reflective, practice-based mentoring for practitioners and faculty who want a thinking partner so they can be more effective and continue to feel good about their work. Individual or group sessions.
Speaking
Conference presentations and guest lectures drawing on original research to give attendees practical strategies for communication, clinical reasoning, and working with children, teens, and families.
Case Consultation
Collaborative support for teams and individuals working with children with complex neurodevelopmental profiles. Mary Beth reviews the full picture and helps you develop a clear, customized, actionable path forward.
Trainings, Speaking, Mentoring, & Consultation
Trainings
Workshops and presentations for practitioners, interdisciplinary teams, educators, and clinical program staff on video analysis, caregiver involvement, sensory processing, autism, ADHD, neurodevelopmental conditions, and understanding children's behavior through a developmental lens.
Speaking
Conference presentations and guest lectures drawing on original research to give attendees practical strategies for communication, clinical reasoning, and working with children, teens, and families.
Mentoring
Reflective, practice-based mentoring for practitioners and faculty who want a thinking partner so they can be more effective and continue to feel good about their work. Individual or group sessions.
Case Consultation
Collaborative support for teams and individuals working with children with complex neurodevelopmental profiles. Mary Beth reviews the full picture and helps you develop a clear, customized, actionable path forward.
Built on four decades of looking closer
Mary Beth's work has been sought after by school collaboratives, early intervention programs, state agencies, behavioral health organizations, and medical education programs. She holds faculty positions at MGH Institute of Health Professions and UMass Chan Medical School, and is the Team Leader for the ECHO Autism & Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Program for Massachusetts. She regularly presents at state, national, and international conferences, including the 2026 American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Conference.
Let’s figure this out together.
Mary Beth would love to hear what you’re doing and how she can support you.