Tara is fascinated by how early experiences impact adult behavior. Due to her extensive professional and research background in trauma/stress reactivity she is especially interested in how early trauma manifests in adult reactions, particularly relationships. She also enjoys delving into how the cultural imprint of where one grows up informs one’s world view.

 

The Red Bike (published: 2021) is Tara Delaney’s debut novel. The Red Bike, asks the question, "Is it the life our parents led or the one they left behind that impacts us more profoundly?" When wildlife photographer, Abigail Gallagher, captures the tenderness between a protective mother gorilla and her newborn baby, she wonders if she can ever feel the same family bonds. First, she must rid herself of the intense anger she has carried since learning of her mother’s affair.

 

She is a bestselling author of non-fiction books: 101 Games and Activities for Children With Autism, Asperger’s and Sensory Processing Disorders (2009); The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book: Practical Answers to the Top 250 Questions Parents Ask (2008) as well as Building Social Skills for Autism, Sensory Processing Disorders and Learning Disabilities: Over 105 Strategies, Activities and Sensory Tools for Children and Adolescents (2014). She has spoken approximately 300 times throughout the country (in virtually ever state) and Europe on autism, sensory processing, behavior, dyslexia and social intelligence. Tara has been an invited speaker at several state and national conferences, including the Psychotherapy Symposium Conference, Washington, D.C.

 

Tara Delaney is an occupational therapist, MS OTR/L, who has been practicing for more than twenty-five years. A graduate of University of Texas-Health Science Center with a degree in Occupational Therapy. Furthermore, she conducted primate research related to stress at the Harlow Primate Lab. Tara holds a M.S. in Therapeutic Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her and her husband, Bill, launched and ran three therapy companies, including a non-profit clinic in Northern California.

 

 

Tara was born in New York City and has lived in many places throughout the country including: Madison, WI; Lubbock, TX; San Antonio, TX; back to Madison (where she met her future husband, Bill) followed by a move to Austin, TX where they lived for 5 years, before making her way to California. She currently lives in Northern California with her husband, Bill, and two teenage children, Maggie & Liam. (She still considers Austin home).

 

Tara enjoys listening to NPR, reading books, wine tasting with friends and increasing her world view through travel. She is an avid fitness buff (lotsa Pilates) and uses wine, BBQ and tacos to balance that fitness activity. She is also a big fan of The Guy Forsyth band!

 

 

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