Community Town Hall to address child development, parent questions and concerns

By Jen Clancey DIGITAL PRODUCER 

On Monday, Jan. 29 at 5:15 p.m., Dr. Nevada Reed will address community members’ questions regarding child development and parenting at Big Sky Discovery Academy. The Community Town Hall is part of an effort by BSDA to provide professional advice and resources on all things parenting, youth development and education. 

Community Town Halls are free and open to the public and BSDA’s guidance counselor Maeve Clinton hopes that anyone with interest or questions attends. “I think it’s important to be able to bring this accessibility in these conversations to parents in a way that makes it easy. 

“It’s conversational, and they have the ability to ask professionals questions,” Clinton told EBS. 

Dr. Reed’s town hall will present some information, but for the most part, the event will be an open discussion. “Reid will be focusing mostly on child development, anywhere from infants to adolescents and teens. So any child development questions that [attendees] have are really encouraged,” Clinton said. 

Clinton explained that this is an opportunity to answer questions and concerns in a safe space. “When parents don’t know where to turn, or what to do, it can be really isolating sometimes and lonely … So being able to have somebody in our community is so awesome. Dr. Reed, is just so gracious in agreeing to do this too,” Clinton said. 

Dr. Reed is an ABPN board-certified pediatric neurologist and has more than 25 years of expertise in treating children and teenagers with various neurologic needs. Previously, she led the Autism Program at Akron Children’s Hospital as medical director and has been in private practice at KidsLink Neurobehavioral Center. 

Through Wellness in Action, Dr. Reed offers appointments as a professional partner. 

Clinton thought of the idea of community town halls back in November and plans to host one at the end of each month, once per month. She said that depending on attendance for the first event, Discovery Academy may look into childcare during the sessions to welcome more parents to the opportunity. 

“My biggest goal is really to get families from all schools engaged. So whether people are homeschooled, they attend Discovery Academy, or they go to the public school …My goal is just to make sure that everybody knows that they’re welcome,” Clinton said. “This is for everybody.”