"Babies learn thru Active-Interaction and Play with their WORLD. Play IS your Baby's Work." - Laura Sobell, MA
For over 30 years, Laura Sobell has been teaching mothers how to care for their newborns. As a therapist with Montessori teaching credential and a master's degree in counseling psychology, she is recognized as Santa Barbara's foremost authority on Baby Care and Development having taught classes for parents and their infants through Santa Barbara City College Adult Education. She's known for years what TIME and NEWSWEEK magazines have recently published - that the most important years of your child's life are before the age of three.
In 1992, Sobell was voted "Local Hero" for her work with high-risk infants. She has spent the last 30 years working with infants and mothers through Santa Barbara Adult Education. Laura has also worked with Santa Barbara Early Start programs for over 12 years, with Infant Mental Health services for over 15 years.
She has also written a book entitled SAVE YOUR BABY... THROW OUT YOUR EQUIPMENT. Sobell believes that modern infant care equipment can slow down and delay normal infancy development. This book demonstrates through words and photos alternatives to problematic infant equipment as well as natural enhancing care and play techniques for all infants particularly babies that are sleeping on their backs. Thanks to recent research with premature infants and brain/mind studies, it is now clearly understood that touching and movement influences the brain size, weight and functional abilities. Sobell has seen for over 30 years what modern science just recently stated - "How the infant's body is held and played with has a direct effect on the body's and brain's development and processing abilities."
Most recently, Laura has been called to and has been creating Growing Spaces - a program to create safe spaces to grow, play, learn and love in, within private homes. Laura is doing private home visits for pregnant couples, new parents and parents with newly crawling infants. To request a home visit by Laura to design a growing space within your own home, please refer to the Growing Spaces page within this site.
