About Me
I completed my Master of Science in early childhood education and special education from Lehman College School of Education in New York City and became certified by the state of New York as a special educator working with children with disabilities. I have 22 years of experience working with individuals who have developmental disabilities or delays. My specialties lie in working with the early intervention population and the school age population.
While working in early intervention under the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in New York, I worked with children 0-3 years old who were found to have developmental delays/disabilities in one or more of the following domains: cognition; communication; physical; adaptive and social emotional. I was part of the multi-disciplinary team that visited families to assess and evaluate children who were suspected of presenting delays. As an evaluator I am well versed in standardized, and criterion referenced evaluation tools. I understand the limitations of each child and am educated about culturally diverse populations and how assessments can lead to skewed scores. As a therapist who has gone into the homes of families and provided one to one therapy with these children, I have used several strategies such as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) when working with children who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I have used natural environment teaching to educate parents on incidental teaching and promote continuity of services by the family in the absence of the therapist.
When working with the school- age population under the New York City Department of Education, I worked with special education students from Kindergarten-3rd Grade. As part of the Multidisciplinary team my responsibilities included classroom assessments and behavioral observations to be included in the students' Individualized Education Plans (IEP). As head teacher, I created curricula to serve students with a multitude of learning disabilities and behavioral diagnosis to ensure the IEP goals were being met.
I am a professional who has dedicated my career to serving the special needs population. My passion not only lies in teaching my patients and students, but in educating the families and communities regarding these special individuals. I am educated about the resources that are available and an advocate in helping to obtain additional resources which are more challenging to acquire.