Frankenberger Associates

Ben Backes

Ben, the Director of Social-Emotional services at Frankenberger Associates, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor (LADC). Ben oversees the PEERS® Social Skills program and he provides counseling services to adolescents, young adults and adults as well as individual crisis management for schools. In addition to these roles, Ben is the co-founder and President of the Board of Directors for Winning Ways Inc., a non-profit organization designed to aid individuals returning from incarceration. He is also the co-creator of the “Falling Up Podcast,” a forum for conversations about how obstacles in life can be transformed into opportunities.

Ted Backes

Ted Backes, The Director of Cognitive Training at Frankenberger Associates, has supervised the trainings of hundreds of individuals, using protocols that improve the full range of cognitive skills and abilities. He has worked with individuals from ages 8 to 80 and has created more than a dozen school based programs in well-known places such as The Greenwood School, Winchendon School, Oxford Academy, Cheshire Academy, Wolf School and Thames Academy. He entered the field of applied neuro-science in 2012 based on a life changing and personal experience with brain training and its healing and restorative effects.

Caryl Frankenberger

Executive Director

Caryl Frankenberger is the Executive Director at Frankenberger Associates, an educational clinic on the shoreline in Branford, CT. As a graduate of Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Caryl has been helping families and schools understand children’s cognitive and educational profiles for more than 35 years
.
Caryl created Frankenberger Associates Learning Solutions Center with her partner, Ted Backes. The center is designed to provide students, grades K-college, with a myriad of services that support their most prescient needs. The center offers evaluations, academic tutoring (targeted reading remediation, written language, reading comprehension, math), social skills groups, executive function coaching/tutoring, brain training, counseling, parent support groups and professional development.

Caryl is a master clinician, psychoeducational diagnostician, and she is a member of the PEERS social skills team. She has committed her life to understanding the latest research and educating schools and families about children who have complex learning profiles. An expert in reading, language, and the field of learning disabilities, she is a recognized national speaker with more than 200 professional presentations.

When not working, Caryl enjoys spending time with her oldest son, Ben, who is an LCSW, LADC and a member of the Frankenberger Associates team, and her youngest son Cam, who is the CEO of Stronger Brains, a technology company that provides an affordable assessment of a student's brain health, and delivers personalized programs that transform cognitive and social-emotional functioning. She is dedicated to her husband, Ted, who is the Director of Neuroscience Programming at Frankenberger Associates and, of course, she adores her dog, Macy.