About The Presenters
Linda Brekken, Ph.D
Linda is the Program Director for SpecialQuest Birth-Five: The Head Start/Hilton Foundation Training Program, funded by the Office of Head Start. She directed the Hilton/Early Head Start Training Program from 1997-2007. She has directed many state, regional, and national training and technical assistance programs which focus on improving services to infants and preschoolers with disabilities and their families. She has also directed personnel preparation grants in the areas of cultural competence, program and personnel standards, interagency collaboration and team assessment, as well as providing direct services and conducting program evaluation. She has been involved in state and national policy development and advocacy efforts on behalf of young children with disabilities and their families for over 35 years.
Susan Stewart, Ph.D
Susan Stewart has worked in the fields of Early Childhood Education/Early Intervention for 22 years. She has served as a preschool teacher in inclusive classrooms, assistant professor and director of a blended (ECE/EI/ECSE) teacher licensure program, and as director of curriculum and training for the Hilton/Early Head Start Training Program. In her current position with SpecialQuest Birth-Five she supports the SpecialQuest community, and expanding audiences, in using the SpecialQuest approach, materials, and resources. Susan guides the continued development and enhancement of the Web-based SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library along with innovative uses of technology to communicate and sustain inclusive practices.
Holly Wilcher, M.S
Holly works for the Colorado Office of Professional Development where she currently serves as an early childhood mental health educator. She received her BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and her Master of Science degree in Child and Family Development from the University of Georgia. Holly's work is centered around building a comprehensive system of personnel development for Early Intervention Colorado -Part C. Holly is also involved in various initiatives that promote a professional development system that supports the social and emotional health of young children. Before coming to Colorado in 2006 she served within the quality assurance area of early childhood professional development for Georgia's Department of Early Care and Learning. Holly's research interests include; early childhood mental health, resilience, adult learning theory, professional develop systems, leadership development and personality theory. Holly also teaches early childhood education college classes and plans to continue advancing the education of early childhood professionals in this capacity.
Rosie Moreno
Rosie Moreno has worked in the field of Early Childhood for more than 25 years-in Early Head Start, private child care, Part C and the professional development of Early Childhood providers. Her passion for effective inclusive practices was enhanced watching her daughter with significant disabilities blossom as she has grown up alongside typical peers and friends.
Pat Cameron
Pat Cameron has been in the early childhood field for nearly 30 years. She’s been a public school teacher in New Hampshire teaching Kindergarten and first grade. In 1980, she relocated to Massachusetts and continued her early childhood teaching in Head Start and then child care with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers; eventually becoming a director. Moving to the state level in 1996, Pat joined the staff of the Governor’s Commission on Mental Retardation; then Early Learning Services at the then Department of Education in 1998 (now Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) as the fiscal accountability specialist, monitoring programs and assisting program people in becoming more fiscally responsible. In 2005, the new Department of Early Education and Care was created, and Pat is the State’s 619 Coordinator for preschool special education. The mother of two adults, Pat lives in Arlington, MA with her daughter, Beth, an accomplished artist, who happens to have Down syndrome.
Pam Wildnauer
Pam Wildanauer graduated Magna Cum Laude from UMASS-Dartmouth with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Education and served 15 years as the Asst. Director of the Citizens for Citizens, Inc. Head Start Program. She developed CFC's Early Head Start Program in 1999 and developed CFC's Maple Tree Child Care Program in 2004. Pam is the parent of a 7yr old child with complex special health care needs. Her professional affiliations include member of the Massachusetts SpecialQuest State Leadership Team, 2007 graduate of SpecialQuest, Chair Person of the Community Connections Human Rights Committee, member of the Greater Fall River Healthy Families Collaborative and Multi-Cultural Health Committee. Personal affiliations include member of the MA DPH ICC, Early Intervention Focused Monitoring Reviewer, Co-Chair of Mommy Time Support Group and member of Trach-Care.
Rob Corso
Rob Corso, Ph.D., coordinates the evaluation for SpecialQuest Birth - Five. He received his doctorate in Early Childhood Special Education, with an emphasis on program evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University and the Project Coordinator of the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning project. Dr. Corso's expertise includes the evaluation of professional development projects for programs serving young children and their families. He has conducted many large-scale evaluations of programs serving children and families and has developed outcomes frameworks for measuring the impact of in-service training for national efforts. In addition, Dr. Corso served as an administrator for Head Start, child care, and early intervention programs. He has co-authored several works around professional development and the delivery of culturally and linguistically responsive early childhood education.