Dr. Gina Feliciano, Senior Director of Education for QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community) met with Professor Kass’ Psychology of Personality class at the Manhattan campus last week.
Dr. Feliciano spoke about her education and career path. She started as a Psychology major as an undergraduate and graduate student, and then went on to earn her Doctorate from Columbia University in Special Education and Behavior Disorders. In her current role, Gina is responsible for the oversight of operations of QSAC’s three schools with students ranging in age from 3-21 years old. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (Doctoral level), as well as a certified New York State Special Education Teacher and School Administrator, and New York State Licensed Behavior Analyst. Gina has also served as the Director of the Preschool and Director of the Whitestone Day School, the Director of Clinical Services, and the Director of ABA services, all for QSAC. She also has years of experience training staff and education professionals as a Behavioral Consultant.
Dr. Feliciano explained to us that there is high demand for graduates of programs such as Behavioral Science, Health Science, Psychology, Social Work and Communications Disorders. Some positions in high demand are in Behavior Analysis, Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Special Education and Bilingual Services. There are great opportunities for students and recent grads to start their career with QSAC as either a volunteer, intern, or staff member.
Some students let us know what they learned from Dr. Feliciano’s talk:
-“There are endless opportunities in my career field no matter how long it takes to get on track. Dr Feliciano has internships and job opportunities to help gain experience in the field with the schools she works in. ”
-“My major lesson from this event is that everything takes patience. Even if you don’t know what field you want, you have time to discover it”.
-“Every person has a different story and a different background and even though they are given the same diagnosis, that does not mean that they should be approached in the exact same way. ‘If you met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism’”.
