BREAKOUT SPEAKERS

Hellen Adedipe – Received her Masters degree in Psychology with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Houston – Clear Lake in December 2007. Hellen has worked as a behavior therapist for several years serving children with developmental delays such as autism spectrum disorders. Hellen’s primary area of interest is peer-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Hellen is the director of The Reason For HOPE, a private applied behavior analytic preschool for children with autism and their typical developing peers.

Mary Basich – Certified Occupational Therapist, NDT and SI certified. She has been an OT for 27 years and owner of The Children's Therapy Center for 15 years. The Children's Therapy Center, located in the Clear Lake area, specializes in treating children on the autism spectrum.

Nancy Kling - Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with a Master’s degree in clinical psychology. Nancy has worked with students with challenging behavior since 1992 and has extensive training and experience with autism spectrum disorders. She is the owner of Behavior Plus-Texas in Friendswood which specializes in social thinking groups for children, parent workshops, and parenting classes. Nancy worked in public schools for over ten years as a behavior specialist, a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology, and an administrator in special education providing assessment, behavioral consultation, parent training, in-home training, and staff development. Nancy continues to consult with school districts on behavioral issues and provide staff development.

Ayda Pinardag - Ayda Pinardag is in the process of completing her intensive training to become an RDI certified consultant. She became familiar with the RDI program several years ago while working at the Connection Center in Bellaire. She was so inspired by the transformation she saw in children with autism that she decided to become a consultant herself. A native of Turkey, she currently lives in Houston with her husband and 8 year old daughter.

Dustin Rynders - received a Bachelor of Arts from Pepperdine University, cum laude (2001), a M.P.Aff. from the L.B.J. School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas (2003), and a J.D. from The University of Houston Law Center (2006). He is an attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow at Advocacy, Incorporated (AI) in Houston, Texas. AI is a disability rights nonprofit organization and member of the Protection and Advocacy (P&A) network that was created by Congress in 1975. Dustin works to ensure that students with disabilities are given positive behavior supports, receive their educations in the most inclusive setting possible, and are not unfairly disciplined for disability-related conduct. He represents students with disabilities and their parents in administrative hearings and complaints. He also provides trainings to parents and advocates, and provides information to the legislature about the affect of current laws on students with disabilities. Currently, Dustin serves as the President of the Board of the Stonewall Law Association of Greater Houston and is an active member of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), Houston Bar Association (HBA), and Houston Young Lawyer’s Association (HYLA).

Ursela Sultan - has her B.S. Psychology. She is an RDI Consultant in training working at clinical department of the Connection Center (Home of RDI in Houston). She is also currently working on her Masters in Industrial Organizational Psychology. Ursela has been working with children on autism spectrum for about 2 years.

Dr. Volpe – Following his graduation from Texas Chiropractic College, where he graduated valedictorian, Dr. Volpe was associated with the Natural Medicine Center in Clear Lake. In January of 1999, he opened his office in the Rice Village/West University area of Houston. His practice is based on a whole-person approach that includes the scientific use of patient-appropriate diagnostic laboratory tests. Dr. Volpe is a certified clinical nutritionist and has attended numerous Defeat Autism Now! Practitioner Training courses. His patients include children and adults dealing with autism, PDD, Asperger’s and related disorders.

Nancy Weiss - Certified Occupational Therapist. Nancy has a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy which include Sensory Integration study in her graduate study. She has been an OT for 22 years and 13 of the years have worked exclusively with pediatric patients. She is employed at The Children's Therapy Center and has worked there for the past 7 years.

Michelle White – MA, SLP-CCC, a certified speech language pathologist with 8 years of experience in the field of communication disorders. For the past 4 years, Michelle has been in private practice in Deer Park, TX as owner of Michelle White Speech Language and Academic Services. She specializes in pediatric communication delays with a particular emphasis in the areas of expressive language disorders, auditory processing disorders and pragmatic language difficulties.