Andrea Kadlec
Andrea’s undergraduate degree is in journalism and her masters is in Organizational Leadership. Director of Community Relations, Andrea has worked for 12 years with Disability Rights Washington, an agency that advances the civil and human rights of people with disabilities. She is building a statewide coalition of special education parent advisory councils for approximately 20 school districts. She worked with self-advocacy groups to develop a statewide mentoring and advocacy project, which involves over 200 students with developmental disabilities. Andrea sits on the National Disability Rights Network’s Community Education & Self Advocacy Committee, the Board of Directors of the Arc of King County, chairs the Northshore Special Education Parent/Professional Advisory Committee and is raising two teenage daughters north of Seattle.
Anjum Mujeeb-Drina
Anjum holds an undergraduate degree in Human Development, a Masters degree in Education and California teaching credentials in Special Education, Elementary Teaching and Educational Administration. She has worked as an early childhood special educator for 12 years for Fremont Unified School District (CA) serving students in an early intervention program and providing parent educational workshops. She has served as a special education team member in initial early childhood assessments and evaluations. Anjum collaborates regularly with families and community preschools as a facilitator for cooperative full inclusion practices.
Cristiane B. Souza Bertone, M.S.Ed., BCBA
Cristiane is a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) and certified special education teacher. She works as an educational consultant with families of children with special needs (NY). She provides behaviorally based interventions for learners aged between 1-21 years, diagnosed with ASD and related disorders both internationally and around the USA. Cristiane also works as an expert witness at hearings, develops research related to autism, co-writes articles, presents at conferences, and develops workshops for families and professionals in the special education field."
Linda Szeto, M.A., CCC-SLP
Linda is the executive director of Therapists Without Borders (ThWB), a non-profit organization that matches professional therapists with underserved communities around the world. She founded ThWB to foster cultural exchange and ultimately improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and their caregivers. Recognized by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) as a Minority Student Leader in 2003, Linda has traveled extensively and given workshops and therapeutic consultations in Belize, Peru, Kenya, Ghana, and Vietnam. Linda has a Master of Arts in speech-language pathology, Certification in Accent Modification by the Institute of Language & Phonology, and Certification in English Language Teaching to Adults by the University of Cambridge. In the U.S., her diverse clinical experience ranges from pediatric feeding disorders to geriatric cognitive rehabilitation. This year she has finally “settled down” in Chicago to serve the Spanish-speaking population in early intervention.
Mary Barros-Bailey, PhD, CRC
Mary is a rehabilitation counselor in private practice in Boise, Idaho. She is a native Portuguese speaker and fluent in Spanish from having lived in Latin America where she served as a business advisor with the Peace Corps. She obtained a master's in public administration with an emphasis on Latin American economic development from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Mary went on to earn a master's in special education and rehabilitative services from San Jose State University and a doctorate in counseling with a cognate in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Idaho. For over two decades, her career has been in working with people with disabilities clinically as a rehabilitation counselor and also forensically as a vocational expert and a life care planner. She is the chair of the US Social Security Administration's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel providing advice and recommendations to the agency regarding the development of a new occupational information system for disability adjudication in their programs.
Mitchell Teplitsky
Mitch is a documentary producer and marketing expert. He was the long-time marketing director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center before making his own film -- Soy Andina," a documentary about Peru and dance that screened worldwide and on U.S. public television. Along the way, Mitch met his wife Doris at a patron saint festival in the Andes. He's currently producing The New American Girls, a web series about undocumented students for Latino Public Broadcasting. And he writes, speaks and consults filmmakers, independent professionals and organizations on how to grow their business. Mitch is a graduate of the Wharton School University of Pennsylvania, and lives in Manhattan (but makes regular trips to Queens, New Jersey for authentic Peruvian food.) Biking, yoga, running, and dance help clear the fog from his digitally-dominated head. www.mitchellteplitsky.com
Natalie Pullen
Natalie is a Special Education teacher at Bothell High School, in Bothell, WA. She received her B.A. in Special Education and K-12 Teaching Certificate from Seattle Pacific University. She received her M.A. in Special Education: Severe Disabilities from the University of Washington. She teaches academic and vocational skills to adolescents with moderate to significant disabilities. Her students receive specific instruction and programming based on the fundamentals of Applied Behavior Analysis. The emphasis of her program involves preparing young adults and their families for life after high school. Natalie is an active advocate for her students and families within the district and the community. She has served on various committees, including Special Education Technology and Curriculum Adoption Committees. She also enjoys teaching leisure activities with her students by coaching Special Olympics.
Susan Bruce, Ph.D.
Susan is an Associate Professor at Boston College where she teaches graduate courses in severe and multiple disabilities. Susan has nineteen years of university teaching and research experience. Her primary research interests are in the areas of communication development and programming, assessment, and action research. Recent publications include a book on action research in special education, and articles about a tangible symbols intervention conducted with 51 children with multiple disabilities and visual impairment in an urban setting. She is the principal investigator of a grant addressing the dual preparation of teachers and action researchers in severe and multiple disabilities, including deaf blindness. Susan is an active consultant with school districts in the U.S. and abroad on topics such as communication programming and assessment.
