Our Founder | Dr. Donna Housman, Ed.D

Emotion is our first language. From a baby’s first cry we have an unparalleled opportunity to inform and shape the patterning of the brain’s architecture for lifelong learning, mental health, well-being, and success.

Dr. Donna Housman, Ed.D has over thirty-five years’ experience as a psychologist in the field of child development and early childhood education. She founded Housman Institute and its lab school, Beginnings Child Development Center, based on emotional foundations of learning and cognition.

Dr. Housman is the creator of Housman Institute’s flagship program, the evidence-based emotional, cognitive, and social early learning program, begin to ECSEL™ that is detailed in her article in the International Journal of Education Policy as well as her co-authored article on begin to ECSEL in the International Journal of Emotional Education.

Dr. Housman is an active presenter and speaker both nationally and internationally, having presented to the American Education Research Association (AERA), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Zero to Three, Harvard China Education Symposium, among many others.

Dr. Housman is a founding executive board member and treasurer of the Massachusetts Association for Infant Mental Health, a subchapter of the World Association for Infant Mental Health. She is also a member of the Children's Health Task Force, Coalition of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and serves on the board of the New England Center for Children (NECC). In addition to her work as an educator and clinician, her opinions and contributions have appeared in the The New York Times, Boston Globe, MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, The Street, Boston Business Journal, Commonwealth Magazine, and WBUR.