Our Educators
All of our educators have extensive experience in early education including a decade of teaching experience and Master’s degrees. Educators undergo additional training with Playful Literacy’s founder, Frida Matute. Specialists understand that every group is different and will modify curriculums to enhance learning outcomes based on age, level, pace and interest. Specialists know how to keep kids engaged so they become lifelong learners!
Frida Matute, M.A. CCC-SLP, TSSLD is the Founder of The Indy Lab. She received her Master’s degree from Northwestern University in 2010 and completed her undergraduate degree in Speech and Hearing Science and Psychology from The George Washington University in 2008. She is Orton-Gillingham trained by the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education, Sounds in Motion certified and trained in the Windward Writing method. Frida worked full-time at NYU Language Medical Center’s Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine for three years before moving to Hospital for Joint Diseases. From there, she ran the pediatric outpatient speech and language clinic at Bellevue Hospital part-time for nearly three years while starting her private practice called Indy Speech Services in 2014. Frida opened up her private speech practice to offer a unique therapeutic experience that is intensive, holistic, and based on her medical speech-language pathology background and started The Indy Lab to leverage her skillsets in speech-language pathology to help all kids prevent problems and help parents advocate for their kids. Frida believes that prevention is the way forward!
Caroline WAGNER Paterno
On-Site Director & Head Educator
Specializations
Master in Early Education from SUNY Lehman
Former Site Director for +40 families for the last 14 years
“I am very excited to be part of The Indy Lab team. I have 20+ years’ experience in the early childhood field. I received my master’s in early childhood education from SUNY Lehman. I have been site director of a daycare serving around 40 families year-round for the past 14 years. I am extremely experienced in all aspects of running a program from licensing, hiring, professional development of staff and more. It brings me joy each day to know I am helping children and their families. I believe that experiences at this young age affect the development of the brain, which provides the foundation for future learning.”