Meet Our Team - Mary Sanford
Mary Sanford, Ph.D.
Position at the Hallowell Todaro ADHD Center:
Executive Function Coach
How long have you been working at Hallowell Todaro ADHD?
On a part-time basis since September 2021!
Where did you grow up?
Port Jefferson, NY
What are your favorite books / TV shows / movies?
Favorite Foods: I love hot spicy food, the hotter the better! I’m a sucker for a beautiful croissant, a perfect Danish, and gorgeous buttery caramels.
Favorite Books: Too many to list!
Kids’ Books: I am fascinated by kids’ literature and how a story is crafted. I loved Holes and Harriet the Spy, a story which inspired me to become a writer.
Adult Books: Under the Tuscan Sun, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Bible, and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Favorite TV Shows: I am glued to Young Sheldon and I am late to discovering The Big Bang Theory. When I can find them, I love old reruns of I Love Lucy. In my opinion, Lucille Ball was a genius comedienne.
Favorite Movies: Hands down, it’s got to be Sleepless in Seattle, Miss Congeniality, and While You Were Sleeping.
What’s your favorite sport and/or sports team?
I really like ice hockey, ice skating, kayaking, and tennis. I don’t have a favorite team. I will happily go to various games with friends and cheer on the home team, whoever the home team might be.
Complete the following sentences:
When I’m not at work, you can find me...
walking my two Golden Doodles, nurturing a new litter of puppies, writing, and hopefully soon, traveling again!
When I want to de-stress, I...
bake. I love to experiment in the kitchen. Truth be told, I read cookbooks the way some people read novels.
My favorite time of year is...
all year. Each season has its blessings and challenges.
My favorite thing to cook is...
home fries and Chinese stir-fry.
The best gift I ever received was…
one magical Christmas recently when I volunteered as Head Elf Mary with the Forgotten Children’s Fund. This Seattle area nonprofit delivers Christmas on Christmas Eve and Christmas to needy families, complete with Santa, teams of elves, presents galore, and food baskets. Well, that Christmas morning this Samoan family was our last stop before heading back to the North Pole. As Santa and I said our good-byes, the entire family including Grandma, gathered around us and asked us to wait a moment. They sang to us in Samoan then translated the song into English: “Thank you! Thank you! We will never forget you!” Santa and I locked eyes and silently pleaded with each other not to start bawling. It was the best gift ever!!
If I could travel anywhere in the world, I’d go to...
Italy, then Madrid, then Newfoundland, France, and Croatia. Sigh…
What led you to pursue a career helping others?
I started working with an ESL child from Vietnam in high school. My mother then encouraged me to pursue Special Education as a career. My university offered a practice school and when I started having success with a developmentally delayed child, I was hooked. I felt a sense of accomplishment helping children, teens, and adults find success and to see them glimpse their value, intelligence, and self-worth. For example, when a child learned to tie their shoes or when one of my high school juniors successfully passed the NY State Regents Competency Exam in English with test accommodations, it was wonderful to see their gifts and to watch them bloom. I had the good fortune of having a professor in college who mentored me for 30 years and never stopped believing in me. He was my role model, and although he passed on five years ago, I continue to be inspired by him.
What education, skills, and expertise do you bring to your role?
I have a bachelor’s degree in Special Education, K-12 and a Master’s in Education in Learning Disabilities with a second focus as a certified Reading Specialist, grades K-12, both from Bloomsburg University. Before graduating, I spent three years in college working as a houseparent to three developmentally delayed adult residents in the community’s first group home for deinstitutionalized persons and seven years as a special education teacher to students with ADHD and other learning differences. I have a Certificate in School Administration from the State University of New York. I am a NY state certified elementary principal. My Ph.D. from Syracuse University was a qualitative longitudinal study of the learning experiences of first and second-career K-12 teachers.
In a desire to gain administrative experience, I applied and became an officer in the US Naval Reserve, achieving the rank of Lieutenant where I taught shipping logistics to enlisted personnel. In addition, I’ve taught and coached students in executive functioning, study skills, English, and reading, grades K-12, plus GED students, students at the community college level, as well as those pursuing bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctorates. From 2007-2014 I spent part of each summer teaching conversational English to Spanish professionals in Spain. I love helping people to see the possibilities within them and to give them the support and encouragement to recognize their worth. I find it incredibly freeing to know that a so-called disability does not define an individual, that love is indeed the most powerful force on earth.
Love is the central part of my practice as a coach and as an educator. In September 2021, my first textbook, an e-book, was published by Great River Learning. Its title, “Teachers as Thinkers: Compassion and Competence in the Classroom” is a book for future educators. While it presents an overview of the field of education, the real message of the book is to exhort teachers to be compassionate and caring to all students, not just the top students but those who are struggling with ADHD, those with challenging home lives, the underachieving learner, and everyone in between. I want future teachers to not accept the limitations of the special education label or diagnosis but to help the student recognize the possibilities within.
Who/what inspires you?
My students and clients. They teach me how to coach and teach- and I am still learning! For example, the other day I worked with a 5th grader who didn’t seem to grasp what is usually in a body paragraph of an informational essay. I knew she loved horses and was taking horseback riding lessons, so I had her tell me about her favorite horse and used that as a springboard to teach her how to write a body paragraph. She did the dictating to me, and I did the typing. At the end of the session, I had a very proud little girl and an equally beaming mom.
What’s your personal philosophy/approach toward the work you do?
It’s very simple: believe in your clients and students. See them as their perfect selves. Recognize their innate goodness and see the genius within. It’s clamoring to come out. And, above all, never stop loving them. People are hungry, nay, starving for love and acceptance. That’s what’s needed.
What is one small thing people can do to improve their lives and increase their happiness?
Recognize that each day is a new beginning. A new beginning! A chance to start over. Think about it and try it. In light of this, I have this poem on my refrigerator, supposedly written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s badly stained and tattered but it still helps to keep me grounded. It’s called Forget About It: “Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your own nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
We provide a range of support for people with ADHD.