Meet Your Experts
Kathryne Cammisa, MHE, OTR/L, is an SI/NDT certified occupational therapist, American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer, Pranakriya certified yoga therapist, Radiant Child/Family 200-hour certified yoga teacher, and Mindful Schools certified mindfulness teacher. Kathee has over 25 years of experience working with children with special needs in the home, school, child care, and clinic settings. She works with children and their families through her private practice and at Children's Place, a therapeutic child care center. Kathee has extensive teaching experience throughout the country, with Georgia State's Project SCEIS, and the Medical College of Georgia where she served as assistant professor of occupational therapy. She has been published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Therapy in Mental and has taken yoga and occupational therapy to children in China, Vietnam, Costa Rica, and Ghana.
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Albert “Skip” Rizzo, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Director of Medical Virtual Reality at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies. He is also a Research Professor with the USC Dept. of Psychiatry and at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. Over the last 25 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development and evaluation of Virtual Reality systems targeting the areas of clinical assessment, treatment and rehabilitation across the domains of psychological, cognitive and motor functioning in both healthy and clinical populations. This work has focused on PTSD, TBI, Autism, ADHD, Alzheimer's disease, stroke and other clinical conditions. Some of his recent work has involved the creation of artificially intelligent virtual human (VH) patients that novice clinicians can use to practice skills required for challenging diagnostic interviews and for creating online virtual human healthcare guides, and clinical interviewers with automated sensing of facial, gestural, and vocal behaviors useful for inferring the state of the user interacting with these virtual human entities. Despite the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how interactive and immersive Virtual Reality simulations can be usefully applied to address human healthcare needs beyond what is possible with traditional 20th Century tools and methods.
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Briana Makofske, PhD, is the co-owner of Summit Psychological Assessment & Consultation and a Licensed Psychologist and Licensed School Psychologist in the state of Colorado. She has extensive experience working with children with neurodevelopmental disorders in school settings and in private practice. She addresses children’s individual needs through assessment, the development of collaborative goals and interventions, and the provision of direct and consultative services. Dr. Makofske believes that all children can acquire skills to increase their independence. The focus of her work now is collaborating with, and teaching skills to, parents and educators to support children in multiple environments.
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Laura K. Sibbald, MA, CCC-SLP, ASDCS, CYMHS, is a nationally-certified speech-language pathologist who has extensive experience supporting the social-emotional and pragmatic language needs of students and families within the Washington, DC metropolitan region. She works as an instructional specialist for students with autism in Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland and has developed and implemented a variety of professional learning opportunities surrounding social-emotional competence at the state and national levels. Laura is a coauthor of the Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Toolbox for Children & Adolescents: 116 Worksheets & Skill-Building Exercises to Support Safety, Connection & Empowerment (PESI, 2020) and the Parenting Toolbox: 125 Activities Therapies Use to Reduce Meltdowns, Increase Positive Behaviors & Manage Emotions (PESI, 2018). She is a member of the multicultural affairs committee of the Maryland Speech-Language and Hearing Association. Laura earned additional certifications as a Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) Certified Educator and in Educational Leadership and supervision. She graduated from The George Washington University in 2011 with a Master's in speech-language pathology.
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Lisa Weed Phifer, DEd, NCSP, is a nationally-certified school psychologist, certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist, and author who has a well-established career supporting school-based mental health and social-emotional learning for children and adolescents. Phifer's work has focused on integrating cognitive-based therapy (CBT) and core social-emotional competencies into practical, child-focused activities. She has presented across the U.S. and internationally to educators, clinicians, and parents, on topics of CBT, trauma-informed practices, and social-emotional learning. She is the lead author of the CBT Toolbox for Children & Adolescents (PESI, 2017), Parenting Toolbox (PESI, 2018), and the Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Toolbox for Children & Adolescents (PESI, 2020). Additionally, she is published in the School Mental Health Journal and contributed to both editions of Supporting and Educating Traumatized Children (Rossen, 2020).
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