Biography
Nava R. Silton, Ph.D. is a Developmental Psychologist with a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Fordham University. She is a Full Professor at Marymount Manhattan College, where she teaches classes in Child Development, Cognition, Personality, Creativity, Children’s Media and has won numerous Teaching, Research and Advising Awards. She has worked at Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop and has consulted for Disney, Netflix, Apple, Blue’s Clues & You, 9Story Media Group and The Autism Seaver Center. She also serves as a Developmental Psychologist for Gan Aliya and Manhattan Day School. She has appeared over 150 times on Fox 5 News as a Parenting and Developmental Expert, and has appeared on Good Day New York, Good Day Street Talk and NBC. Silton has written over 36 peer-reviewed journal articles, over 20 chapters, book reviews and encyclopedia entries and has edited eight full textbooks. Her first two books discuss innovative technologies for individuals with autism and other disabilities, her third delves into creativity, her fourth into family dynamics and romantic relationships, her fifth explores the constructs of happiness, gratitude, kindness, empathy and well-being, her sixth text discusses best parenting and child development practices for the 21st century, her seventh discusses the impact of COVID-19 on children, adolescents and adults and her eighth discusses the benefits of creative arts therapies for children, adolescents and adults.
Silton also created the The Realabilities Educational Comic Book Series (www.realabilities.com) and The Realabilities Mental Health Edition, which offers 12 comics on disabilities and 6 on mental health disorders, respectively and two instructional manuals for use in classrooms across the world. The disabilities-based series, which received The Reader’s Favorite Award and was a Page Turner Awardee has now been translated into Hebrew and Spanish and is currently being translated into Chinese and French, as well. Due to the popularity of The Realabilities Educational Series in the schools, Silton created Addy & Uno, The First Family Musical about Disabilities, Bullying and Kindness. Addy & Uno, which was nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award, ran Off-Broadway for over 18 months at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in Manhattan (www.addyanduno.com) and is now being developed by the Jim Henson Company for TV. She also is developing another show with LeVar Burton Entertainment. In addition, Silton created a Child Development and Parenting Podcast, entitled A Cup of Java with Dr. Nava. She also created Bashert, www.theBashert.com, a brand-new card game which helps individuals connect and forge meaningful relationships with others, Unbox Your Creativity: A Game for Creative Changemakers and One of a Kind: Play it Forward for children. Finally, Nava recently penned four feature screenplays, Pure, The Prof, Jackpot and Toycoon. All four screenplays have already achieved significant recognition (Finalist, Semifinalist and Quarterfinalist designations) in over a dozen screenplay contests. Most recently, Silton was identified as one of the Top 50 screenwriters on the ISA Fellowship slate. Silton is married to Dr. Ariel Brandwein and has seven children- three boys and four little girls.