Current Board (Missing: Betsy Botts and Martha Summa-Chadwick)

RICK RADER, MD, President

Dr. Rick Rader is the Director of the Morton J. Kent Habilitation Center at Orange Grove in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Dr. Rader functions as a medical futurist in trying to predict the future medical problems of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities as they age. He is crossed trained in both internal medicine and medical anthropology.

He is the Editor in chief of Exceptional Parent Magazine, the world's most highly respected magazine devoted to parents and professionals raising and supporting individuals with significant and complex disabilities. Under his tutelage the magazine has won innumerable prestigious awards for editorial excellence. Dr. Rader is the President elect of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry and a Fellow of the American Association on Mental Retardation. He was the first appointed Special Liaison for Family Healthcare Concerns at the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Dr. Rader is a past recipient of the Exceptional Physician of the Year Award granted by parents of children with special needs.

He has authored over 50 articles on neurodevelopmental disabilities and has lectured extensively all over the world on the dynamics of the special needs community. Dr. Rader was a member of the Surgeon General's Task Force on Healthcare Disparities for People with Mental Retardation as well as serving as a consultant to the NIH's Office on Rare Diseases. He serves as a medical consultant to Special Olympics. He is an adjunct professor of Human Development at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as well as serving on the Genetics Advisory Board for the State of Tennessee. He serves on the board of the American Association on Health and Disabilities. He was the first physician elected as an honorary member of the Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association. He is a member of the New York Academy of Science.

GILLIAN HOTZ, PhD., Secretary and Treasurer

Dr. Gillian Hotz is the Co-Director of Pediatric Neurotrauma Program UM/JMMC. Assistant Professor Daughtry Family Department of Surgery and the Director of the Snoezelen Program, Miami. Dr. Hotz has been involved in clinical and research activities for adults and children with brain injury for over 15 years. She has authored many articles, developed neurocognitive assessments for traumatic brain injury and presented at many international and national conferences. She is currently studying Snoezelen therapy for children with severe brain injury.

Dr. Hotz holds a BSc in Psychology, MSc in Speech Pathology and a Ph.d in behavioral Neuroscience from Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Hotz is a member of the Florida Injury Prevention Advisory Committee, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program: Research/Outcomes Committee, the Florida Committee on Trauma, American Society of Neurorehabilitation, International Neurotrauma Society, The American Psychological Association, The American Speech Language Hearing Association, The Brain Injury Association, and the Aspen Neurobehavioral Group:Pediatric TBI Group.

SUSAN BERRY, B.S.

Susan Berry has been a principal since 1996 at Escambia Westgate School in Pensacola, FL, she graduated from Troy State University in 1973 with a B.S. in Special Education K-12 and Elementary Education. She received her masters in Administration and Supervision from the University of West Florida in 1983. Mrs. Berry taught Special Education for 23 years before becoming a principal at Escambia Westgate School. Mrs. Berry will be the first principal in the state and nation to have a state of the art sensory complex on her campus which will help all students at Westgate increase student performance. She has ten years experience as a principal and 33 years of experience in education.

BETSY BOTTS, EdD

Betsy Botts, EdD, has been involved in the field of special education since 1973. Four years after completing a MA degree with a specialty in autism, her fifth child was born. It was apparent very early that characteristics of autism were present and he was diagnosed a few years later. Having the perspective first of a teacher and researcher and later as a parent has given her unique insights into the affects of autism.

Dr. Botts is a frequent speaker to parent groups where she empowers parents to navigate the maze of available programs by providing them with basic tools to examine the research base of products and programs. Programs for both parents and professionals have been presented in the Patagonia Region of Argentina and currently, in Ghana, West Africa. She serves on the local Association for Retarded Citizens and teaches at the University of West Florida

Research interests include Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as it affects family systems, the function of and expression of stereotypic behaviors, positive behavior supports, sensory issues in autism, and a variety of parental issues, including dealing with the initial diagnosis of ASD.

TOM CHEETHAM, MD

Dr. Tom Cheetham is a Board Certified family physician with over 30 years experience serving people with intellectual disabilities. His clinical experience includes providing primary care in three developmental centers, as the physician for a tertiary 24 bed unit in a state psychiatric hospital for adults with a dual diagnosis (intellectual disability and a psychiatric diagnosis or significant behavioral issues) and as a community based family physician for fifteen years, all in Ontario Canada. He has held academic appointments in the Department of Family Medicine of two university schools of medicine, most recently as Assistant Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and previously was Director of the Developmental Disabilities Program at the University of Western Ontario, with a cross appointment in the Department of Psychiatry. He began in this field by accident, prior to medical school, with his wife as live in houseparents supporting ten adults with intellectual disabilities in the early 1970s.

Dr. Cheetham is a founding board member of the Canadian Association for Research and Education in Intellectual Disabilities, and was a member of the Planning Committee for the Colloquium on Primary Health Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities which resulted in publication of the Ontario Consensus Guidelines for Primary Health Care of Adults with Developmental Disabilities and the subsequent training program for health care practitioners. In 2007 he was selected Physician of the Year by the Developmental Disabilities Nurses Association.

Since being granted an unusual O visa by the Department of Homeland Security in May of this year, Dr. Cheetham has been the Medical Director at Orange Grove Center, a community agency serving more than 700 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Currently he serves on the Advisory Board of Exceptional Parent magazine, the Board of the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry and the Board of the American Association of Multi Sensory Environments.

SANDRA FORNES, BSc, MSC, MBA

Sandra Fornes is a Co-Founder and Director of the Hidden Angel Foundation (HAF), a nonprofit organization whose primary goal is to promote the use of multi-sensory environments (MSE) in an educational and therapeutic recreational setting to enrich the lives of individuals with cognitive, emotional, and/or physical disabilities. Sandras work with individuals with disabilities has ranged from designing and developing multi sensory environments to the development of accelerated workforce programs for individuals with MR including the development of a Job Retention Model for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Sandra has developed and managed the Industrial / Organizational Psychology and human resource development programs for the Jotralair Group as well as their Philanthropic activities. Sandra has published numerous articles in conference proceedings around the topic of workforce development and workplace issues for individuals with mental retardation and disabilities.

Sandra holds a BSc and a MSc in Psychology as well as an MBA. Sandra is a doctoral candidate in Adult Education and Human Resource Development. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), The National Rehabilitation Association (NRA); the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), a division of the American Psychological Associations, and the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD).

CHRISTOPHER GIZA, MD

Dr. Christopher Giza is an Assistant Professor of Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Mattel Childrens Hospital and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His expertise is in the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly pediatric TBI, and he is actively involved in both clinical and basic neuroscience research. His research focuses on developmental neuroscience, molecular biology, recovery of function and neuroplasticity and is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

He directs the UCLA Pediatric TBI Clinic and serves as chairman of the Health and Safety Committee for the California State Athletic Commission. He is an active member of the National Neurotrauma Society, Society for Neuroscience, Child Neurology Society and the American Academy of Neurology. Dr. Giza received his bachelors degree in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College and his M.D. from West Virginia University. His internship was at the University of Pennsylvania and his neurology residency and postgraduate fellowships were completed at UCLA. He served as a member of the Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue team for one year.

LEE HENDERSON

Lee Henderson spent seven years as a Vocational Director in Texas for Bethphage Mission, now known as Mosaic.  He moved into the hospitality industry after his three children were born, the oldest with Down syndrome.  After being transferred to Florida, Lee and his wife, Sherri, were taken aback at the lack of integrated services that were available for their son.  Segregation and group settings were the only options.

After fighting the school system to provide an inclusive education for their son, they decided to found an agency that would provide the type of services they felt were needed in Florida.  Using their son as an inspiration: he has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, was elected Homecoming King at his high school, was on the Varsity Cheerleading team and school mascot and now attends the University of North Florida and is their official mascot, Henderson Haven has been proving to others that allowing people to live lives of their own design and choosing within their communities can be successful for everyone for the past 6 years.  Lee currently serves as President and CEO of this organization.  (www.HendersonHaven.org)

HOWARD KAPLAN, PhD

Howard Kaplan is a behavior analyst and licensed psychologist who is in private consulting practice in New York City. He has worked in the field of Intellectual Disabilities with adults for over 25 years.Dr. Kaplan graduated with a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the City University of New York and currently consults with several graduate programs on the topics of research design, statistics, single subject and time series analysis. He is the author of several articles about people with Intellectual and developmental Disabilities and multi-sensory environments.

JENNIFER STRAUSS, M.Ed

Jennifer Strauss, M.Ed. is a teacher and educational consultant, focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorders. She has worked in the field since January 2000. She has her Master of Education Degree in Special Education and holds an Autism Endorsement. Ms. Strauss has taught and consulted in Florida, London, and the Dominican Republic. She recently started her own company Autism Consulting and Training, Inc. Her projects include developing customized programs for children on the Autism Spectrum in schools and the home environments. She attended the Snoezelen® Training to gain knowledge and experience to assist her students. Ms. Strauss participated in the Partnership Program with the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at the University of Miami. Through this partnership, Ms. Strauss created a Sensory Area in her classroom to meet the sensory needs of her students with Autism. She saw a need in the classroom environment to create a safe place for children with sensory issues. She then went on to educating her fellow teachers and administrators to promote the implementation of five more Sensory Areas in her school.

Jennifer Strauss proudly accepts the nomination to be on the Board of the American Association of Multi Sensory Environments. She envisions reaching out to the public and private school communities to promote awareness and education of multi sensory environments. She would like teachers and administrators to understand how imperative it is to create safe environments suitable for children with sensory needs. She feels that children with sensory deprivation and sensory overload should be assisted and not ignored.

MARTHA SUMMA-CHADWICK, DMA

Dr. Martha Summa-Chadwick is Executive Director of the non-profit organization Music Therapy Gateway In Communications, Inc.  (MTGIC) in Chattanooga, TN.  MTGICs mission is to provide quality Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) in the form of one-on-one sessions and web-based software, thus making NMT universally available at little or no charge to families who would not otherwise have access to such therapies.  Dr. Summa-Chadwick leads the software development effort to automate the NMT techniques and has completed Fellowship training in the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy at Colorado State University.  In addition, she teaches at the Cadek Conservatory of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

BARBARA VARTANIAN, MS, LMHC

Barbara graduated from Hartwick College with a BA in Psychology and from the State University of New York at Albany with an MS in Rehabilitation Counseling. She has specialized in the field of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, and has worked in this field for over 30 years, both with adults, adolescents and children. She currently directs Rehabilitation Services at a Psychiatric Facility in upstate New York.

She became interested in MSE in late 2005, when she began to explore the uses and values of this approach in conjunction with the opening of a new child and adolescent treatment unit. After visiting several programs and consulting with experts in the field, Ms. Vartanian became convinced of the potential value of the MSE with individuals with psychiatric illness. In 2006, Ms. Vartanian was instrumental in establishing an MSE within this new Child and Adolescent Unit at a Psychiatric facility in upstate New York, one of the first such programs within the NYS mental health system. Ms. Vartanian has been actively involved in directing and developing this new program, with the goal of expanding the program to include an MSE within the adult and geriatric services.
 

ADVISORY BOARD (non-voting)

LINDA MESSBAUER, MA, OTR/L

Linda Messbauer graduated from New York University with a Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy. She has extensive experience working in the field of Developmental Disabilities. Linda has worked in early childhood to adult services and has been a private consultant to both public service agencies and private corporations. She started her career in the field of Geriatrics some thirty years ago. In 1992, she established the first Multi-Sensory Environment in the United States at Lifespire, Inc. in New York and, since that time, has participated in research on the efficacy of the MSE approach to recreation, therapy, and education. A great believer in lifelong learning, she is currently pursuing an advanced diploma in Applied Behavior Management through the New York Institute for Applied Behavioral Management, Long Island, N.Y. Linda is a pioneer, an international speaker and trainer on the subject of Multi Sensory Environments.