Meet the Speakers
Dennis Campbell, PhD
Presenting: Cri du Chat 101 and Transition
Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of South Alabama. Dr. Campbell is the parent of a Young adult, Amy, with 5p- Syndrome. He chairs the Professional Advisory Board for the 5P Minus Society and has worked with many other parent support groups. He chairs the Human rights committee which reviews, and approves rights restrictions for several of the local agencies that serve individuals with cognitive and intellectual disabilities as well as mental illness. He has researched, published and presented extensively regarding Cri-du-Chat Syndrome, disability advocacy, and transition. Dennis was named Parent of the Year in 2014 with his beautiful wife Shari.
AmySue Reilly, PhD
Presenting: Transition & An Overview of ABA Therapy
Dr. AmySue Reilly
is the Associate Professor of Special Education, Rehabilitation and Counseling
at Auburn University, Dr. Reilly is a member of the Professional Advisory
Committee for the 5P Minus Society. She has presented at the past 11
conferences on Behavior Modification. She has also researched and published
along with Dr. Campbell regarding Cri-du-Chat Syndrome, disability advocacy and
transition. Dr. Reilly was named 2014 Super Hero of the Decade!
Because of Dr. Reilly’s continued support of the 5p- Society, the Hospitality
Suite has been renamed AmySue’s Place in her honor.
Kent Nicholls
Presenting: New Family Orientation
Like you, Kent
is the parent of a child with 5p- and is always searching for information
and resources to help his daughter live a better life. As the founder of the
5p- Society, Kent has participated in all 29 5p- Society Annual Conferences and
has helped families and professionals connect, provide mutual support, and
learn from each other. Kent currently serves on the 5p- Society Board of
Directors, is chairman of the Nominating Committee and serves on other
committees. Kent was also our first and appropriately named Parent of the
Year.
Kent has
previously served on the Board of Directors for the March of Dimes and The ARC,
as well as technology advisor to the Children’s Center for the Visually
Impaired and the Bloch Cancer Survivors Park, all in Kansas City. He also
recently served as a Merit Reviewer for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
Institute in Washington DC where he evaluated grant requests for research on
rare genetic conditions.
Shanida
Mathieu
Presenting: The IEP Process
Shanida Mathieu is the mother of two sons ( her eldest with Cri –
du-chat syndrome). She works with families of children with disabilities,
helping them advocate for appropriate educational services for their children
and finding community resources to meet their children's needs. She presents
parent and professional workshops on a variety of special education topics. As
an education advocate for Louisiana’s federally funded parent training and
information center, under the National consortium of parent training centers,
Shanida has trained over 3000 parents and professionals within her state,
empowering them to effectively advocate for appropriate services for students
with disabilities over the last six years. Shanida has trained under some of
the leading experts on special education law.
As a dedicated education advocate
for her state, she is focused on empowering parents and adult students with
knowledge on their educational rights. Working as an education advocate under a
federally funded program, has afforded her with the skills and knowledge to
continue to empower parents and professionals to see Abilities versus
DisAbilities. She has served and continues to serve on several of advisory
committees, multiple task forces, advisory groups and task forces with
Louisiana Department of Education, La. Children Special Health Services, La.
Deaf/Blind Consortium and as a 2009 graduate of Louisiana’s Partners in
Policymaking.
Douglas Sidell, MD
Presenting: ENT Manifestations of 5p-
Dr. Sidell has worked with one of our kiddos with Cri du Chat Syndrome on repairing her laryngeal clef. These clefs are over looked by most ortholaryngolist and are sometimes misdiagnosed as paralyzed vocal cords.
Linda Karr O'Connor
Presenting: A Picture can Lead to a Thousand Words: The Picture Exchange Communication System
Linda will describe and show videos of their journey with
their daughter Siobhan as they found a way for Siobhan to express what she was
unable to say through speaking using PECS. Linda will share with other parents
what was essential in achieving Siobhan’s success.
Linda Karr O’Connor, Esq.
Linda Karr O’Connor is Director of the Scholarly Support and
Research Assistant Program at the UCLA Law Library. Linda earned her B.A. at
Shimer College, her J.D. at the University of San Francisco, and her Masters in
Library Science at UCLA. Linda is a member of the California bar and teaches
research skills to special education and disability rights attorneys. Linda is
the proud parent of Siobhan Larissa Karr O’Connor, a 23 year old with Cri du
Chat, whose persistent, accurate and joyful communication gets her to Ireland,
Disneyland, and In-N-Out Burger. Linda was first trained in PECS in 1997 and
implements PECS at home and in the community with Siobhan, using both a
communication binder and a speech generating device. Linda successful advocated
for and achieved proper implementation of PECS in public schools, at home, and
in an adult day program.
Rebekah Rocha
Presenting: Educational Options for your 5P minus child.
Educational options for your 5P minus child: This conference
will discuss common public education options for Special Ed students, including
Severely Handicapped programs as well as Full Inclusion. The bulk of the
workshop will present a full description of full inclusion, using Gigi’s story
as the main focus. Parents will learn how they can advocate for full inclusion,
how to help choose appropriate goals for their child’s IEP, as well as how to
“think outside the box” in terms of creating a “blended model” for their CDC
child, where all Special Ed students are “included” for some part of their
school day.
Rebekah Rocha is an Elementary School Principal in Northern
California, where she has worked in the education field for 17 years. She has
attended hundreds of IEP meetings and is very familiar with the IEP process. In
addition, she has a 7 year old daughter “Gigi” who has Cri du Chat Syndrome. Gigi
started Kindergarten in a Special Day Class, but her team found that she was
having more success in a Regular Education Pre-Kindergarten class. So far,
Gigi has benefited from three years of full inclusion.
Maggie Kehrer & Alice Krezymon
Presents: Therapeutic Horseback Riding and its Benefits
MAGGIE KEHRER
PATH
Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
Certified
Sign Language Interpreter
Maggie has worked with persons with disabilities for over 30
years. She worked for the Irvine School
District for 25 years as a Resource Assistant at the elementary school
level. At the same time, she learned
about therapeutic riding while she and her daughter were in National Charity
League. Having a love for horses and a
rider while growing up, Maggie found the perfect philanthropy to work
with. She was a volunteer at the Fran
Joswick Riding Center (which later became the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center)
for 28 years. She was awarded Volunteer
of the Year twice and became a Volunteer Coach.. She was asked to participate in the six week
intensive PATH Instructor course which was being offered at the center. After successfully passing the course, Maggie
began teaching at the Shea Center.
Maggie worked as an Instructor at Shea for eight years, teaching 34
clients a week and in charge of summer camps for 6 years.
In April 2012, Maggie started teaching at the EQUIP
Therapeutic Program, hosted at the Rocking T Ranch in Yorba Linda. Under Maggie's guidance, the Equip Program
has grown with clients and volunteers.
The Equip Program ran for three years until the land was sold for new
housing.
Maggie joined the Instructor team at The Back Bay
Therapeutic Riding Club in January 2015.
Besides teaching lessons at the Back Bay, she also volunteers her time
once a week at the Therapeutic Riding Center of Huntington Beach.
ALICE KREZYMON
PATH
Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor
French
nationality
After my studies of Biology and Nutrition, and after
finishing my PhD in Neurosciences in France, I moved to California and started
to volunteer at the Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club, a non-profit organization
located in Newport Beach. I was enjoying
my passion of being around horses and riding them, while helping special needs
children and adults. I got more and more involved in the activity of the club,
and in 2014 I passed the certification from PATH (Professional Association of
Therapeutic Horsemanship), and started to provide therapeutic riding lessons.
Beside teaching the lessons and welcoming and training the volunteers, I train
the horses and take care of them so they stay happy, safe and sound for our
special needs riders.
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