Child Therapist for Kids and Teens in Montana and Washington
DYLAN SPRADLIN, MA, MSW, LCSW, LICSW, SERVING NEURODIVERGENT CHILDREN AND TEENS VIRTUALLY
ACROSS MONTANA AND WASHINGTON
My work is deeply relational, grounded in nervous system science,
and the belief that behavior always has a story behind it.
Healing begins in relationships
Sometimes the pain began before there were words for it, but the nervous system remembers.
My work is relational, nervous-system-informed, neurodivergent-affirming, and grounded in the belief that behavior always has a story—and a function.
Every dysregulated behavior is an attempt to get back to regulation, even when it looks like yelling, shutting down, refusing, throwing something, running away, or melting down over the wrong color cup.
That does not mean you have to calmly decode every hard moment while it is happening. You are a human being, not a nervous-system interpreter available 24 hours a day.
Believe me: when a textbook is thrown at your head after some particularly difficult math problems at 7:46 p.m., staying steady is both particularly important and particularly hard.
But when we begin to understand what a child’s behavior is trying to communicate, it becomes easier to find our own steadiness again. And that steadiness can change what becomes possible next.
Why I do this work
Like many therapists, my professional path grew out of my personal one.
I am AuDHD, and I raised a neurodivergent child into adulthood. That means this work is not abstract to me. I know what it is to live outside the expected shape, to question the systems everyone says should work, and to keep looking for a more honest, connected way through.
I was also shaped early by someone in my own family whose beginning taught me to pay attention to the fact that infants have stories, too. Long before they have words, babies have experiences: of being carried, born, held, separated, welcomed, overwhelmed, soothed, or left to make sense of too much on their own.
That understanding led me toward prenatal and perinatal psychology. It also led me back toward my own earliest beginnings and into healing work that has deeply shaped my life, including making meaning of an early twin loss I did not understand until much later.
I believe the earliest parts of our lives matter—not because they doom us, but because they deserve to be met with care, curiosity, and compassion.
Like many people, I have also lived through grief, loss, difficult relationships, and experiences that asked me to do more healing than I ever planned on doing. That work continues to shape how I sit with others: with humility, steadiness, humor, and respect for how much courage it takes to keep becoming yourself.
My own experiences with parenting, grief, loss, healing, and neurodivergence have shaped how I sit with others now. I bring clinical training, lived experience, steadiness, humor, and deep respect for people who have spent too long trying to conform to systems that do not fit.
What it’s like to work
with me
Clients often describe me as warm, grounded, deeply attuned, and authentic. I keep a smaller caseload intentionally so I can bring steadiness, presence, and emotional capacity to the people I work with.
This is not rushed work. It is thoughtful, relational work.
I’m not interested in perfection, surface-level parenting strategies, or forcing people to “move on,” “calm down,” or become easier to manage. I’m interested in helping people understand themselves and each other more deeply — so new patterns of safety, connection, and repair can begin to emerge.
MY GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Authenticity.
No performance required. I bring my real self so you have more room to bring yours.
Safety.
Safety comes first. I work to create a space where feelings, hard stories, and messy truths can be met with steadiness instead of shame.
Respect.
Every person has a story before they have words. I meet people of all ages with dignity, agency, and respect for what their nervous system already knows.
Play.
Play is not extra. It is how many nervous systems explore, repair, and change without needing everything explained in words.
TRAINING & EDUCATION
I’m committed to ongoing education & training to best support your family.
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Master of Clinical Social Work;
Walla Walla University, Missoula Campus
Master of Clinical Psychology;
Santa Barbara Graduate School
Specialization in Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology (Primary Psychology) & Infant and Child-Centered Play TherapyBachelor of Arts
The Evergreen State College;
focus on Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology.
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Certified Synergetic Play Therapist™
learn about Synergetic Play TherapyCertified NARM™ Therapist
learn about NARMCertified Grief Informed Professional for children, adolescents and adults
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP)
Certified Clinical LCSW Supervisor
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Play Therapy, Youth & Family Work
Playing Perfectly: A Play Therapist’s Guide to Working with OCD
Working with Siblings in Play Therapy
Infant and Child-Centered Family Therapy
Infant Play Therapy
Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity
Creative Play Therapy Interventions for Grieving Children, Youth, and Families
Grief, Loss & Medical Trauma
Traumatic Grief: Cognitive, Behavioral, and Somatic Approaches
Mastering the Complexities of Traumatic Grief
Cultivating Post-Traumatic Growth
Reproductive, Infant, and Pregnancy Loss
Medical Trauma, Injury, and Illness
Grief in Foster and Adoptive Children and Families
Attachment, Neurobiology & Early Experience
Embodiment & Neurobiology of Secure, Insecure, and Disorganized Attachment and How to HealCultural Responsiveness
Building Cultural Inclusivity in the Playroom
Working with Native People and Communities -
Outside the therapy space
Outside of my work, I’m drawn to theater (both sides of the curtain), song, wild water, pollinator gardening, stories—the ones we tell ourselves, the ones we live, and the ones we share.
I love river otters and guinea pigs.
I love dogs and am particularly drawn to Newfoundlands, but will always have rescue dogs of any breed mix.
I believe healing and grief both live close to beauty.
I believe nervous systems speak constantly.
And I believe people deserve spaces where they can tell the truth without fear of judgment.
Selected Publications
“Fall of the Fairies”, Mothering Magazine, Mar/Apr 2008 (print edition, under the name Dylan Emrys)
“February 16” (poem) and “Spirit of the Child” (essay), in Our Stories of Miscarriage: Healing with Words, anthology edited by Rachel Faldet and Karen Fitton, 1997 (under the name Dylan Emrys)
