Meet the people behind the Project!

Founders
Christine Sansom is Chicago Education Project's Executive Director. She graduated from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a degree in Cell and Structural Biology. After opting out of medical school, Christine began a career in accounting and management. Christine moved to England with her husband in 2002 and remained there for two years. She decided to make a career change into the field of education upon returning to Chicago in 2004, when she began working with children with autism at The RACE School for Autism. Christine wears many hats at Chicago Education Project; her favorite responsibilities are meeting parents and being an extra adult on field trips; her least favorite responsibility is fulfilling the role of "technical director" when the wireless network goes down. Christine is pursuing BCaBA certification.

Amanda Parker, M.Ed, BCBA, is Chicago Education Project's Program Director. Ms. Parker has over nine years experience working with children and adults with autism and developmental disabilities. She holds a Master's degree in Special Education, is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), and certified RDI® Provider. In addition to overseeing CEP's classroom-based programs, Ms. Parker is an active consultant, overseeing many home- and public school-based ABA/VB programs, as well as presenting on IEP development and Principles of ABA.

Board of Directors
Patrick Ackles

Michelle Pilafas is a proud parent to four sons, two of whom are afflicted with PDD-NOS. Michelle has served as chairman of the Hoffman Estates Arts Commission for 11 years and at Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine as a volunteer and Spiritwear Chairman. Her son, Austin, appears in the Souls book project authored by Sharon Rosenbloom and Thomas Balsamo. She has volunteered for many autism events and is currently writing Christian books for children with special needs. Michelle has trained in the areas of ABA, VB, RDI, and Floortime as well as in IEP development and IDEA/Wrightslaw workshops. She resides in Hoffman Estates, Illinois with her husband, of 13 years, Gary, who serves as a Trustee of the Village of Hoffman Estates.

Alex Vealitzek

Dawn Vivirito is a parent to a child with autism who has received services from Chicago Education Project. She comes with five years of experience serving on the Prince of Peace Preschool and Kindergarten board in Schaumburg. Dawn is very active with the PTA and has organized autism and ADD educational workshops in District 54. She is a member of the ARC of Illinois and the Northwest Suburban Chapter of Autism. A conference groupie, Dawn has attended Carbone, Greenspan, Temple Grandin, Autism One and B.A.S.I.L. to name a few. Dawn is a real estate agent in the Northwest suburbs and has been a member of the Chicago Education Project board since August of 2006.

Director of Behavioral Services
Melinda Pieniazek, M.A., BCBA, is a Chicago native and resides on Chicago's northwest side. She has a wealth of experience and been working with children and families with Autism Spectrum Disorder for over seven years as a therapist and consultant.

Melinda graduated in 2001 with a B.A. in Developmental Psychology from DePaul University. After working for several years in Illinois and California, she returned to Chicago to earn her Master's degree from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology with a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis.

During her free time, Melinda enjoys spending time with friends and family, and traveling when she can. She is looking forward to a great new school year.

Visiting Consultants
Teresa Grimes, MS, BCBA, of Whole Child Consulting, has been working with children of varying exceptionalities since 1991. Since that time, she has served as: Classroom Teacher, Local Education Agent, and consultant. In those capacities, she has been responsible for many aspects of assessment and programming. Teresa has worked with people between the ages of 2 and 60 on behaviors ranging from following early receptive instructions, to a variety of problem behaviors and advanced reading instruction.

Teresa remains committed to discovery, aggressively seeking education in a variety of "methods", such as "Verbal Behavior", "The Association Method" and "The Rapid Prompt Method". Through all such pursuits, she retains a radical behavioral perspective, which helps her modify new teaching methodologies to meet the needs of any learner.

Steve Ward, MA, BCBA, also of Whole Child Consulting, has been working in the field of Behavior Analysis since 1995. As the Lead Behavior Analyst for a center school, Steve conducted more than 100 functional assessments and wrote behavior plans to address a wide range of behaviors. He has also worked as a consultant, where he has designed programming for a wide variety of repertoires, including verbal behavior, daily living skills, and academics, among a host of others. Steve specializes in teaching social behaviors, incorporating knowledge from a variety of perspectives and remaining at all times behavioral in his own perspective.

Behavior Analysts
Imran Khan is an Associate Behavior Analyst at the Chicago Education Project. He graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Imran began working as an in-home therapist for kids on the spectrum his senior year, and started working at the CEP directly after graduating and moving to Chicago. Imran recently graduated from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology with a Master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. He took a break from Chicago in September 2007, to complete his practicum at Timber Ridge NeuroRestorative Services in Benton, Arkansas, working with adults and adolescents with traumatic brain injury. Imran took the opportunity to continue as an Associate Behavior Analyst at the CEP this summer. He is currently working on completing his thesis on increasing the frequency of verbal operants emitted by children on the autism spectrum.

Pamela Zavada, MSW, recently moved to Chicagoland with her husband. In the past nine years, she has worked with developmentally disabled adults and emotionally disturbed elementary and high school students. She began working with the autism population last summer.

Pamela received her B.A. in Psychology from Montclair State University. To assist students in acquiring social skills, she continued her education at Kean University, receiving a Master's degree in Social Work. In August 2006, she completed the post-baccalaureate certificate program in Applied Behavior Analysis at Caldwell college, continuing her passion for the behavioral sciences. Pam is currently pursuing her BCBA certification.

Classroom Teachers
Heidi Mateja, M.Ed is very excited to start this school year with Chicago Education Project. After obtaining her undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education with an approval in Special Education from the University of Illinois, she found her true passion working in an early childhood autism classroom. Since then, Heidi has worked in a variety of settings, including public schools, private schools, and private practice with students ranging in age from 2 to 22. The majority of her training has focused on Applied Behavior Analysis; however, she also has experience and training in RDI, Floortime and TEACCH.

Angela Pierobon graduated from Eastern Illinois University in May 2007 with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. After realizing that she wanted to do more, she decided to go back to school to get her special education endorsement at Roosevelt University. Angela's students are the most important part of her classroom. In order for them to learn and grow, Angela is going to get to know them on a level based on trust and security. A successful student-teacher relationship needs to develop for the students to be able to trust Angela. She will also get to know their families and develop a strong communication with them.

The learning environment is also a key part to education. Angela will make sure that all the lessons are based on the students' needs and adapted to help them learn at their highest levels, while also ensuring there are appropriate tasks that they can successfully do, as well as challenging material to help them grow academically. Angela will be teaching many subjects to help prepare her students for typical school. Reading, spelling, and math will help her students develop. It is important for them to comprehend what they are reading. She will incorporate activities that go along with the stories they read to help better their knowledge.

When Angela is not busy with schoolwork, she enjoys being with her family, friends and sitting outside on a nice day, enjoying a good book. She loves animals, having a cat and a dog herself; there is nothing better than going home and being greeted by them.

Tiffany Smith graduated from Northern Illinois University in December 2007 with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. She graduated in the top 10% of her class with a degree of distinction, cum laude. She is currently pursuing her Special Education endorsement at Roosevelt University in Schaumburg.

Tiffany completed her student teaching right here in Schaumburg through District 54, in a first and second grade multi-age classroom. In a multi- age classroom, first graders and second graders learn together in all subjects except Math. This type of teaching is becoming more and more popular because of the differentiation available, and the way it allows the students to excel. Tiffany was first introduced to Autism Spectrum Disorder when a child in this classroom was diagnosed during her internship.

Tiffany is very excited to implement different cross-curricular lesson plans. Reading and Math are an essential part of every day life, and will be a big focus in group times. Another huge part of the curriculum Tiffany will be implementing has to do with everyday personal and social skills. She will also focus on dipping into the children’s creative sides and imaginations through art, creative movement, and free play time.

During her free time, she loves being in the city, reading a good book (she is always looking for good recommendations), and watching any sports except golf and tennis. She is a big fan of the Chicago White Sox and Bears. Tiffany enjoys spending any extra time she has with her friends and family.

Speech Pathologists
Kathryn Kunkel, M.S., CCC-SLP, BCBA is a Speech Language Pathologist who became interested in working with children on the autism spectrum while pursuing her Bachelor's degree at Iowa State University; while there, she worked as an ABA therapist for two families who had children on the spectrum. While pursuing her Master's degree at Western Illinois University, she studied under an expert in the field of autism. Shortly after entering the work force, Kathryn decided to pursue BCBA certification. When Kathryn is not at work, she is spending time at home playing with her nine month old daughter, Abigail.

Jill Shackelford, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a licensed Speech Language Pathologist who holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA). Jill received her Bachelor's degree in 1994 and her Master's degree in 1996 from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

She has extensive professional practice in autism treatment, and has a sibling with ASD. She also has experience with ABA therapy and is pursuing certification in Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®).

Occupational Therapist
Courtney Kerin, M.OT, OTR/L, is a licensed Occupational Therapist who received her Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science from Marquette University in 2004 and her Master's degree in Occupational Therapy from Midwestern University in 2006. Courtney has worked with children of all ages in a variety of settings, such as: school, clinic, and hospital. Courtney has lived in Bartlett for over 20 years, and enjoys taking pictures, scrapbooking and skiing.

Instructors
Jill Bisluk graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a B.A. in Dance and Physical Fitness for Individuals with Special Needs through the University Without Walls program. She has been involved with home-based Applied Behavior Analysis/Verbal Behavior therapy for almost eight years. Jill is also a recreational therapist, which gives her the opportunity to work with many different disabilities, and has been an Inclusion Aide since September of 2000. Jill is planning on getting her Master's degree in Special Education; besides working at Chicago Education Project, she also teaches Dance, and is a teacher at Concordia University.

Anne DeLeoleos

Julee Dunn is a native of Tennessee. She graduated from Emory & Henry College in May 2005 with a Bachelor's degree in Music. She recently moved to Chicago with her husband, Jason, in order for him to attend graduate school at Wheaton College. Julee has been working with children with autism for seven years, and is excited to be working at Chicago Education Project. After seeing first-hand how effective ABA can be, Julee is looking forward to helping change more lives of those affected with autism.

Katie Hoppe

Lindsay Kass

Anna Marshall

Karyn Olszak

Francesca Pecoraro recently graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Biology. Aside from attending UIC, she was also a volunteer in the Pediatric ER at a hospital in the northwest suburbs. Francesca is planning to pursue a Master's degree in School Counseling.

Anna Phillips graduated from University of Gdansk in Poland with a Master's degree in Psychology. She wrote her dissertation about children with dyslexia; Anna also assisted her professor in the study of children with cerebral palsy. Once autism became Anna's passion, she became involved with home-based Lovaas therapy in Poland. After she moved to the US, the new country and second language presented her with new challenges in her desire to make a difference in children's lives. Anna is planning to further her education in this field.

Saloni Razdan

Reanin Stone

Kristi Thompson

Aneta Warkusz

Yvonne Yap

Would you like to work for Chicago Education Project? Check out our available positions!