Mr. Adikimenakis graduated in 2016 from the Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of NY with his Masters in Accountancy with a minor in Psychology. He is a CPA and consultant for Tax Accounting and IRS related matters.

Mr. Meskouris serves SPARTA as the Secretary and Direct Support to the CEO and has a strong and well-rounded background in healthcare service management. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Queens College, and has a strong and well-rounded background in management of healthcare services. In his free time, Mr. Meskouris enjoys spending time with loved ones, going to the gym, and playing the drums

Dr. Benjamin Thomas is Associate Clinical Director of the Claremont Autism Center at Claremont McKenna College and has been a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) since 2007. He holds a master’s degree in psychology from Queen’s College of the City University of New York, and recently completed his doctorate in developmental psychology at Claremont Graduate University. Ben has over 16 years of experience providing service and training to individuals with developmental disabilities, as well as their families and educators in a variety of settings. Ben has also published research in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, state, national, and international conferences on topics related to behavioral assessment, intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Ms. Tursenovic is a NYS Certified School Psychologist with post-graduate training in Advanced Applied Behavior Analysis. Ms. Tursenovic received both her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Master’s in School Psychology from St. John’s University in New York. Ms. Tursenovic studied Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology, receiving an advanced certification in ABA. Ms. Tursenovic has twelve years of experience practicing ABA within different settings, including school, home, and hospital settings. Within these settings, Ms. Tursenovic has worked with children, adolescents, and adults with Autism, Developmental Disabilities, and Psychiatric Disorders.

Ms. Tursenovic has extensive experience working with non-verbal children with Autism, teaching basic communication and self-help skills. Ms. Tursenovic also worked as part of a unique team developed by the Department of Justice, within an acute psychiatric in-patient hospital setting, developing behavioral management systems and protocols, as well as educating staff on principles of behavior and teaching behavior management strategies. This was part of an initiative to improve the quality of patient care in hospital settings, as well as reduce problematic or dangerous behaviors among patients.

Ms. Tursenovic has Ten years experience working as a School Psychologist, providing counseling and crisis intervention to students of varying disabilities, district-wide parent training to parents of students with Autism, as well as providing psycho-educational evaluations. Ms. Tursenovic is well versed with various assessment batteries, including, Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive and Achievement Tests, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Test of Auditory Processing Skills, Behavior Assessment System for Children, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and Self-Directed Search.

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Joanna Spartinos graduated from Adelphi University in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a double minor in history and education. She also received her Master’s degree in Childhood Education from Adelphi University in addition to an Advanced Certificate in Special Education in 2012. In May 2018, Joanna received an Advanced Certificate in Applied Behavioral Analysis from Queens College. Joanna currently has her NYS Professional Certification, Students with Disabilities, Grades 1-6 as well as a NYS Professional Certification, Childhood Education, Grades 1-6. She taught as the General Education teacher for five years in a community school in the Bronx. During this time, she taught fourth grade for one year and first grade for three years, three of those years in first grade were in an ICT classroom. The classroom experience allowed for her to develop her teaching skills as well as effectively design and differentiate curriculum in all subject areas for all learners.

For the past six years Joanna has also been providing ABA services to students diagnosed with ASD or other disabilities under the supervision of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). This experience has led for her to develop skills in discrete trial training, incidental teaching, and implementing activity schedules. Joanna is currently on track to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA).

Maria Kalesiou graduated from University of Crete in 2009 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. She then graduated with her Master’s Degree in Special Education from the University of Tourino in 2012. Maria began to work in the classroom from 2012 as a Special Education teacher for children with special needs. She has experience working as a self-contained teacher with a class of five students as well as a 1:1 Special Education Teacher pushing into classrooms to support her student. She has worked with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as ADHD. Maria is also certified by the country of Greece to teach individuals aged 18 and older who are pursuing completion of their middle school or high school diplomas. As of 2018, Maria is a Doctoral student at the University of Crete. She is studying sibling relationships/interactions/self-esteem in families with a child diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, or is intellectually disabled. She has collaborated on research projects with her professors at the University of Crete. She has published two research publications.

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Her first publication is entitled, “Fatherhood in families with a disabled child“. She was also a co-author for the publication titled, “Basic aspects of imitation in mother-twin infants’ triangular interactions from 2nd to 6th month of life”. She has presented numerous presentations and posters at conferences in Greece and Europe.

Georgia Manolioudi received her Bachelor’s in Early Education from the University of Crete in 2015. She has participated in several seminars and conferences on psychology, education and autism. She has attended a program on Intercultural Education for students with refugees and migrant background form University of Aegean. She has been teaching children ages 4 to 6 with autism and ADHD. She has been teaching in summer camps since 2016, as a teacher and as an assistant director. Georgia is also attending a master in special education in University of Nicosia. Moreover, she is a traditional dancing teacher.

Katerina Fragiadaki graduated from University of Crete in 2012 with her Bachelorʹs Degree in Early Childhood Education. She then graduated with her Master’s Degree in School Psychology from University of Nicosia in 2018. She began to work in classroom from 2014 as a teacher and at the same time as 1:1 Special Education Teacher pushing into classrooms to support her student with special needs and especially autism.

Mr. Emmanuel Kouratoras is a primary school teacher. He got the bachelor degree on July 2015 after 4 years of studying at University of Crete (OUC). In this four-year period he had one and a half year of practical work in several schools which helped him adapt to different working environments. He is also an electric guitar teacher after completing his studies at Athens conservatoire (Department of Rethymno) city. In his free time he likes to play the guitar, listen to rock music and go for jogging. He also loves designing and building shisha/hookah devices and taking care of his African-cichlids Aquarium.

Vasiliki Makraki is a teacher in special education. She received her Bachelor’s in Greek Philosophy from University of Crete in 2012. She completed her Masters Degree in Special Education in 2019 and she has attended numerous seminars on special education. Vasiliki has worked with autistics children on first grade as a support teacher. She has also experience in students with learning difficulties as private teacher since 2012. She has been involved in research on the emotional management of children in the context of Erasmus+ Project in University of Crete, in which greek teachers have been training on affective education. Moreover, she has attending a program in teacher training in intercultural education for students with refugee and migrant backgrounds from University of Aegean.

Christos Korompilis graduated from University of Crete in 2016 with his bachelor’s Degree in Department of Primary Education. He has worked as a teacher at school for eighteen months. In 2018, he started attending a certified seminar with title “Training in Intercultural Education” from University of the Aegean and he completed his studies in 2019. Afterward, he attended various educational seminars in the field of Special Education and Child Psychology. In 2019, he started attending a seminar in Special Education from University of the Aegean and he will be certified as a special education teacher by the end of March in 2020. Also, he has experience as a tutor teacher and especially children with learning disabilities in writing and reading. In his free, he enjoys playing basketball and going to the gym.