October 2012

The Kaufman Center co-sponsored the Jewish Federation's Anita Naftaly Family Circle Conference. This year's keynote speaker was Jerome J. Schultz, PhD., who spoke on the topic, "Uncovering the Impact of Stress on Learning."

September 2012

The KCC was a proud sponsor of the Explorations in Development Conference, presented by Wayne State University's Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute. The conference was aimed at social workers and counselors and covered the topics "Understanding Disorganized Attachment & Caregiving," as well as "Defining Therapeutic Action: Attachment-Based Intervention with High-Risk Families."

The Kaufman Center staff was on hand at the Michigan Walk Now for Autism Speaks event at the Palace of Auburn Hills. This is the nation's largest grassroots autism walk program, as well as Autism Speaks' signature fundraising and awareness event.

August 2012

The KCC provided games for kids at the Celebrities Against Autism Family Fun Picnic at Heritage Park in Farmington Hills. This was a free event for kids with autism and their families and included a variety of fun activities.

April 2012

Nancy Kaufman and Kerry Peterson presented "The Quest for the Request: Getting Kids Talking with Applied Verbal Behavior" to a large group of parents and professionals at the annual Living With Autism conference hosted by Metro Parent magazine. The KCC co-sponsored the event and hosted a vendor table.

The Kaufman Children's Center was a sponsor of Celebrities Against Autism's "Autism Heroes" Celebrating Those Who Make a Difference" gala. Honorees included Dr. Temple Grandin, Gary Cole, Holly Robinson Peete, and Ted Lindsay.

Nancy Kaufman spoke to speech-language pathology students at Wayne State University on the topic of "Effective Clinical Skills for Successful Outcomes."

February 2012

The Kaufman Children's Center co-sponsored a showing of the movie "Temple Grandin" with the Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education's Opening the Doors program in recognition of National Jewish Disability Awareness Month.

January 2012

The Kaufman Children's Center co-sponsored the Alliance for Jewish Education's Opening the Doors Program's presentation of "It's So Much Work To Be Your Friend: Helping Kids with Learning Disabilities and Other Challenges," featuring Rick Lavoie.

October 2011

Our annual Halloween party provided KCC kids with a great time playing games, making crafts and having a blast in the OT gym and the bounce house. Families were also able to meet Beamer, a police horse from the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, and his human partner, Deputy Don Purgatori, who is the father of occupational therapist Mr. Chris!

The KCC co-sponsored the Jewish Federation's Day School Conference and the Anita Naftaly Family Circle Conference. Guest speaker Ray Levy, Ph.D lectured on the topic, "Mission Possible: Motivating and Managing Difficult Children and Teens."

September 2011

KCC staff members walked alongside thousands of other community members for the Walk4Friendship, an annual 5k event that raises crucial funds and community awareness for The Friendship Circle - a nonprofit organization for individuals with special needs. The walking continued through September, with KCC staffers taking part in the Detroit Apraxia Walk and Walk Now for Autism Speaks.

The KCC participated in the first annual Worldwide Day of Play at the Fountain Walk in Novi. The event, sponsored by Nickelodeon, included all kinds of fun activities for kids, encouraging them to turn off TV for the day.

April 2011

The KCC occupational therapy staff put together a fun sensory room for a Family Fun Day hosted by the OUCARES autism program at Oakland University. The room had a space theme and included fun games and other sensory experiences for children who attended the event.

Nancy Kaufman and Carol Afflerbaugh presented "Communication is the Key: Unlocking the Challenges" to a large group of parents and professionals at the annual Living With Autism conference hosted by Metro Parent magazine. The KCC co-sponsored the event and hosted a vendor table.

February 2011

The KCC co-sponsored the Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education's presentation of Elaine Hall. Hall is the creator of The Miracle Project, a theater arts and film program for children with autism, which was profiled by the HBO Emmy Award winning documentary Autism: The Musical. The event included a presentation by Hall, followed by viewing of the movie.

Occupational therapy director Jessica Hunt spoke to early childhood day school teachers from the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit about sensory ideas for the classroom.

January 2011

Nancy Kaufman spoke about the nature of communicative challenges to a group of dedicated individuals from JARC in Farmington Hills. JARC is one of the nation’s largest providers of community-based Jewish residential services, serving nearly 150 adults in its group homes and various supported independent living arrangements.

October 2010

Nancy Kaufman showed her support at the Bridgewater Apraxia Walk in New Jersey. She met lots of parents of children with apraxia and was able to answer many questions.

The KCC co-sponsored the Jewish Federation's Day School Conference and the Anita Naftaly Family Circle Conference (with featured speaker Michele Borba).

KCC Director Nancy Kaufman and Director of Occupational Therapy Jessica Hunt presented a full day of information on pediatric speech, language and sensory-motor challenges at the Explorations In Development Conference. The conference was presented by Wayne State University's Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development.

September 2010

The Kaufman Children's Center hosted a meet and greet of the West Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. The event was a fantastic networking opportunity and allowed fellow business owners to learn about the services available at the KCC.

July 2010

April 2010

Nancy Kaufman met with a group of leaders from Michigan State University’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences. Nancy also had the opportunity to speak with one of the largest undergraduate student organizations of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association.


Nancy Kaufman spoke at the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit's Alliance for Jewish Education's Opening the Doors program. The event was part of a specialist series for early childhood program directors and special educators. Nancy offered both strategies and video clips on how to integrate communication skills into the classroom.


KCC staff members presented at the annual Metro Parent "Living With Autism" workshop, featuring keynote speaker Temple Grandin. Carol Afflerbaugh spoke on the topic of "ABA Verbal Behavior: A Model Program for Learning Language Through Structure and Play!" and Jessica Hunt spoke about "Autism and Picky Eating: Practical Solutions to Digest!" The KCC co-sponsored the event and hosted a vendor table.

March 2010

The center participated in the annual Family Fun Day hosted by the OUCARES autism program at Oakland University. Occupational therapists from the KCC designed and implemented a sensory room at the event. The sensory room had a camping them, including low lights, tents, flashlights, tactile activities with marshmallows and "canoeing" with scooter boards.

November 2009

The KCC was a proud sponsor of the Jewish Federation's Day School Conference (with featured speakers Marilyn Applebaum and Binyomin Ginsberg) and Anita Naftaly Family Circle Conference (with featured speaker Sandra Reif, M.A.). Nancy also presented "Identifying and Assisting Children with Communication Challenges in the Classroom" to three groups of early educators at the Federation's Early Childhood Education Conference. Kudos to the Federation for coordinating three fantastic events!


Also in November 2009, Nancy presented "Children who Struggle to Speak" to the Speech and Hearing Discussion Group of the Greater Metropolitan Area at the ASHA Building in Rockville, MD.

October 2009

We hosted a Halloween party for all our 'spooktacular' KCC families. Click here to check out some of the photos from the event!


The KCC participated in the resource fair at the Walk Now for Autism Speaks. It was a chilly day but the event was well attended and lots of fun!


Also in October 2009, the KCC was a proud sponsor of the Metro Parent Education Expo at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

September 2009

The KCC once again participated in and sponsored the Friendship Circle's Walk 4 Friendship. See our team photo!

Also in September 2009, Nancy was invited to present and consult with the staff at the Parish School and Carruth Center in Houston, Texas on the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol.

July 2009

Nancy and Carol were asked to present two sessions at the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) National Conference in St. Charles, Illinois: Bridging Sign Language to Vocal Communication for Children with Autism, CAS and Other Developmental Challenges and The Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol.

April 2009

Nancy and Carol presented a breakout sesion entitled Bridging Sign Language to Vocal Communication for Children with Autism, CAS and Other Developmental Challenges at the Metro Parent Living with Autism Workshop. The KCC was also a proud exhibitor at their resource fair.


Also in April 2009, the KCC took part in two resource fairs hosted by the Oakland Schools Parent Conference 2009.

March 2009

The KCC was a proud sponsor of the JARC SpringElation event.

January 2009

Nancy was invited to present Helping Children with Down Syndrome Become Effective Vocal/Verbal Communicators for the Down Syndrome Guild of Southeast Michigan.