I’m Brittany Kowalik, founder of Wonder Brightly. I’m a Developmental Therapist and Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant providing Child & Family Developmental Services grounded in relationships, play, and everyday life.

I work with children across a wide developmental range—from very young infants with emerging delays to children navigating significant regulation challenges, including shutdown, aggression, and moments of crisis. Families often come to this work during periods of uncertainty or transition, seeking steadiness, clarity, and support that feels relational and responsive.

My work centers on helping adults make sense of what a child is communicating through behavior, emotion, movement, and play. Rather than focusing on fixing behavior or teaching isolated skills, I look beneath the surface to understand whysomething may be happening developmentally—and how adults can respond in ways that support regulation, connection, joy, and growth over time.

Families and professionals often come to this work seeking clarity, reassurance, or a steadier way forward. For many, this includes wanting deeper connection through play and everyday interaction, while feeling unsure how to read a child’s cues or join them in ways that invite shared engagement.

My role is to serve as a translator and guide—helping adults interpret a child’s communication and respond with greater clarity, flexibility, and confidence. When adults feel supported and grounded, children are better able to engage, relate, and learn within the relationships that matter most.

My approach is developmental, relational, and neuroaffirming.

Children grow best within safe, responsive relationships—and the adults who care for them are the most powerful drivers of that growth. My role is not to replace caregiver intuition or expertise, but to help sharpen and support it: slowing things down, noticing patterns, making meaning together, and shaping responses that fit the child, the family, and real life.

This work often includes:

• Looking beneath moments of overwhelm, shutdown, or big reactions to understand what a child may be needing or communicating
• Supporting regulation, engagement, and connection through everyday routines and play
• Strengthening back-and-forth interaction, shared attention, and relating
• Creating space for reflection, curiosity, and recalibration—without urgency or judgment

Whether I’m sitting on the floor with a family, reviewing play videos together, consulting with a professional team, or providing reflective supervision, the heart of the work remains the same: supporting the adults so they can support the child.

This work isn’t only for moments of stress or crisis.

Many families choose to work together proactively—as a way to slow down, reflect on daily interactions, and better understand how their child’s development, regulation, and relationships are unfolding over time.

Sessions often include looking at everyday moments, play routines, and interaction patterns, while also supporting caregivers in noticing how their own experiences, expectations, and family patterns may shape how they show up in relationship with their child.

This reflective space helps responses feel more aligned, sustainable, and intentional—supporting growth and joy now and as a child continues to develop.

In addition to direct work with families, I often serve as a collaborative partner within broader support systems.

This may include helping caregivers navigate recommendations, supporting families through Early Intervention and IEP processes, joining clinical conversations, or consulting with educators and care teams to think together about a child’s needs.

My role is not to replace existing providers, but to help align everyone around a shared developmental understanding—so supports feel coordinated rather than fragmented.

Families often describe this as having someone who can translate between systems, ask thoughtful questions, and keep the child’s developmental needs and relationships at the center of decision-making. Whether working with a single family or an interdisciplinary team, the goal is clarity, collaboration, and forward movement.

My background spans early intervention, infant and early childhood mental health, play-based developmental work, autism-focused intervention, attachment-informed care, sensory processing, and crisis response.

I hold a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree from Miami University (Ohio). I am credentialed in Illinois as a Developmental Therapist through Early Intervention and trained in the Illinois Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation model. My work is grounded in relationship-based, neurodevelopmental approaches, including certification in the PLAY Project® and the Circle of Security Parenting™ Program, as well as training in DIR/Floortime and Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN). I am also trained as a Unyte-iLs Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) provider and draw on polyvagal-informed concepts when they are supportive of regulation, connection, and felt safety within relationships.

In addition to private practice, I have worked extensively within hospital systems and interdisciplinary teams, including developing and delivering training for pediatric psychiatry staff  focused on supporting neurodivergent patient care.

These experiences shape how I work today: with deep respect for complexity—both in children and in the systems that surround them.

Wonder Brightly reflects how I believe growth happens.

Through wonder, curiosity, and careful noticing. Through creating space to slow down, reflect, and make meaning together. Through interactions that feel intentional, responsive, and human—not rigid or performative.

This work is grounded in curiosity and careful observation, and in slowing down enough to make sense of what children are communicating within their relationships and daily lives. Meaningful support grows from understanding—not from quick fixes or one-size-fits-all solutions.

I have worked within systems where autistic and neurodivergent children were often misunderstood or underserved. That experience continues to shape how I work today—as an advocate for developmental understanding, relational safety, and neuroaffirming care across settings. Whether supporting families directly or consulting within broader care teams, my goal is to help ensure children are understood and supported in ways that honor who they are, not just how they behave.

Wonder Brightly exists to create space for reflection, shared meaning-making, and thoughtful support—so families and professionals can approach children with greater clarity, confidence, and responsiveness, unlocking potential through understanding, connection, and everyday relationships over time.