Emily Roper  is the owner and founder of Early Roots. She has an education background in psychology, midwifery, and neuro-developmental delay. She also has a personal and family history with learning difficulties that makes her uniquely qualified to help children with neuro-developmental delays. Emily first became interested in NDD therapy after seeing how much it helped her cousin.

 

“Having a child with developmental problems impacts the entire family. It becomes such a large part of normal, every-day activities. I got to experience some of this when I was younger. I grew up with a cousin who struggled with developmental issues and I remember my Aunt constantly looking for something that would help him. For years, they tried everything they could find with minimal success. Eventually, my Aunt found an NDD therapist and my cousin started getting the help he needed. As a young teenager, I got to witness his success with the program and it had a huge impact on me. It was not long after this, that I decided I wanted to be able to offer other families the same thing.” 

 

Emily graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. While she was getting this degree, Emily had the opportunity to spend a month in Colorado interning under an NDD therapist at Anna’s House. One of the things she learned during this internship was how impactful pregnancy and birth are to normal brain development.

 

"In all of my developmental classes, my professors spent a lot of time on pregnancy and brain development. It was not until later that I realized labor and birth also have a huge impact on brain development.”

 

During her senior year at UCO, Emily completed the necessary classes to become a childbirth doula. After college, Emily decided to continue her education and began studying midwifery. She was accepted into the midwife’s assistant program at the Oklahoma Midwives Alliance and also began a clinical apprenticeship at Community Midwifery Services. 

 

In 2015, Emily began her post-graduate program for Neuro-Developmental Delay at the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP). In 2016, Emily completed their one-year training program and became an INPP licentiante.