Education
Teaching, Leadership and Behavioral Psychology
Rebecca P. F. McDonald
Licensed Psychologist and Behavior Analyst, New England Center for Children
Dr. Rebecca MacDonald is a Licensed Psychologist in Massachusetts and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who serves as a Senior Program Director at the New England Center for Children, a school for children with autism. She has faculty appointments in the Special Education Department at Simmons College and the Psychology Department at Western New England University. Rebecca received her doctorate in Developmental and Child Psychology from the University of Kansas. Dr. MacDonald has presented her research at numerous conferences over the past twenty years and published studies that have appeared in a variety of peer reviewed journals. She has also contributed chapters on social skill development in several books designed for both practitioners and parents. Dr. MacDonald’s research interests are focused on social skills in children with autism and have been supported by both federal (NICHD) and private (OAR) grant sources. Her current projects include assessing and teaching joint attention, teaching play and social reciprocity to children with autism using video modeling, and measuring clinical outcomes of early intensive behavior interventions.
Judy doCurral
Executive Director, Holliston Community Children's Center
Judy earned her BA from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) and her Master's Degree of Education from the University of South Carolina. Judy has worked in the field of early education and care for the last 30 years. Her roles have included, preschool teacher, family resource coordinator, parent educator, and an administrator of both non-profit and for profit programs for young children. She has experience with children aged eight weeks through age eight. She currently works at The Holliston Community Children's Center which offers full time child care for infants through children age 5, part time preschool, before and after programs for school age children and community playgroups. The role of an early childhood administrator encompasses many facets of learning from working with children, training and managing teachers, mentoring high school and college student assistants, as well as overseeing the daily operations of a business.
Brook Doire
Intervention Teacher, Robert Adams Middle School
Brook Doire always wanted to be a Marine Biologist. She worked with children throughout HS and College, both in landlocked Colorado, because she found that it didn't really feel like work. She spent her college year summers as a counselor at a sleep-away summer camp and loved every moment of mentoring, coaching, and planning.
Life took a turn and she found herself nannying for a family in California which sparked her interest in child psychology and education. Never having taken an education course, she began substitute teaching, and went back to school for her Masters at BC.
After graduating, she earned her Special Education and K-6 teaching license and began teaching in the classroom in 2004.
In 2017, after having worked at RAMS as a science teacher and science curriculum specialist, she applied for a new teaching position: an Intervention Specialist. She continues to work in this role where she supports students and teaching teams throughout the middle school.