Jennifer Brush, MA, CCC-SLP, is the Director of Brush Development, USA and the Program Director, Montessori Education for Dementia, St. Nicholas Montessori College, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. Jennifer serves on the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) Advisory Board for Montessori for Aging and Dementia, and she is the only AMI Certified Trainer of Trainers for Montessori for Aging and Dementia in the US. Jennifer is the co-author of several nationally recognized books on dementia.
Understanding the particular needs of healthcare organizations and families engaged in dementia care she brings more than 20 years of experience as both a leading researcher and direct-care coach in this complex field. She is a nationally recognized speech-language pathologist known for her work in the areas of memory and environmental interventions for people with dementia. She has served as the principal investigator on applied research grants that examined issues pertaining to HIV/AIDS dementia, hearing impairment, dining, swallowing disorders, and the long-term care environment. Ms. Brush has served as Chair of the Professional Development Committee of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Gerontology Special Interest Division and on the Editorial Review Board of SpeechPathology.com.
Margaret C. Jarrell, M.Ed., is a certified Practitioner and Certified Auxiliary Educator in Montessori for Aging and Dementia through AMI. She works on a variety of projects for Brush Development, including teaching and training, coaching, and curriculum writing.
Margaret earned her B.A. in Developmental Psychology from Duke University and her M.Ed. degree from Marymount University. Here Elementary Montessori teaching credential is from the Institute for Advanced Montessori Studies, and she was a Lower Elementary Montessori classroom teacher for 12 years before moving into administration and consulting.
As both a Montessori student and now a Montessori parent, Margaret has seen firsthand how Dr. Montessori’s philosophy and methods nurture and support people’s natural love of learning, desire for independence, innate drive to do meaningful work, and need to serve with purpose as a member of a community.
Contributing Authors
Natalie Douglas, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Central Michigan University. She completed her B.S. and M.A. degrees at Ohio University. After a decade of clinical practice as a speech-language pathologist in hospital and long-term care environments, she completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Florida. Her research aims to advance best, person-centered practices in communication and quality-of-life interventions for people with dementia, aphasia, and other acquired communication disorders in adults. She also works to empower local healthcare teams to support quality improvement initiatives and person-centered care through applying principles of implementation science.
Rev. Katie Norris, M.Div., is a brain health coach and owner of Recourse Health and Fitness Coaching. She is also the co-founder of the Carolyn L. Farrell Foundation of Brain Health. Her community ministry is devoted to helping people optimize their brain and body so they can live life to the best of their ability, with meaning and purpose. Rev. Katie has worked tirelessly for years to raise awareness and end stigmas associated with brain health issues, through community outreach and public speaking.
Rev. Katie attended Montessori school through eighth grade and is the mother of a Montessori child. She was the first person in the United States to earn the AMI Practitioner Certificate in Montessori for Dementia and Aging. Together with Jennifer Brush, she is the co-author of Creative Connections in Dementia Care: Engaging Activities to Enhance Communication (Health Professions Press, 2015).
