Faculty Information

LINDA BRAULT is the director of Beginning Together, and the California Map to Inclusive Child Care Project, all projects of WestEd, Center for Child and Family Studies in collaboration with the Child Development Division of the California Department of Education. Linda is also an instructor in Child Development at MiraCosta Community College.

Prior to directing projects for WestEd, Linda was an early childhood special education teacher for over 18 years. Linda received two Bachelor degrees from the University of the Pacific; one in music therapy and one in psychology. She received her M.A. in special education from CSU Dominguez Hills and holds an Early Intervention Graduate Certificate from San Diego State University. Linda holds board positions in several professional organizations and is a member of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Early Childhood Training Cadre for the International Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC/CEC).

Linda is passionate about inclusion of children with special needs into child care settings, in part because she is the parent of children with special needs. Linda has published articles and speaks frequently on inclusion of very young children, young children with challenging behaviors, legal requirements in early intervention/early childhood special education and transition between early intervention and special education.

Linda's main hobby is watching her husband, Tom, and daughters, Gerilyn and Robyn, perform on stage in local community theater. Her daughters continue to be a source of great wisdom and learning.

Abby Cohen currently works part-time for the National Child Care Information Center as the Region IX State Technical Assistance Specialist, providing technical assistance to the Federal Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) administrators in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada on any issue connected to their child care systems. Abby is also an independent consultant on child care law and policy issues.

Abby is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University. She is also a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley. "The very first week I began work at the Child Care Law Center in 1983, I began to work towards the inclusion of children with special needs into child care. With the passage of the ADA, I developed expertise in the application of the ADA to child care. I have drafted and helped to develop legislation and policies to assist children with special health needs to be included in child care. I have trained thousands of child care providers and parents, administrators and policymakers about the ADA and child care."

Abby has two children, Jesse age 21 months and Maya 8, who bring the term child care to life. When she has time(!) she loves to cook (her cheesecake recipe appeared in Gourmet), hike and camp, and read. She also has first hand knowledge about disabilities as her 16 year old nephew was born with severe combined immune deficiency syndrome (SCIDS) and with a successful bone marrow transplant from his mother is thriving today.

Janet Gonzalez-Mena is currently self-employed, giving workshops, talks, and trainings on infant-toddler caregiving, diversity, parenting and early childhood education in general. She also likes to take on projects. At present she is working with California Tomorrow on designing diversity training for child care programs. When not working outside, she is at home writing books and articles. She is working at present on two co-authored books. One is a general child development college text book looking at the cultural context of development. Her co-author is Chilean and now lives in Canada. The other book is called Knowing Children and Using the Knowledge and that co-author is from Australia. Janet spends a lot of time on e-mail.

Janet retired in June 1998 after 24 years of community college teaching. She started in the 60's as a preschool teacher and has been a child care director and an ESL teacher. Janet studied Human Development at Pacific Oaks and interned under Magda Gerber, Los Angeles infant specialist. She has been part of the WestEd visiting faculty for the Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers since 1990.

Janet has five children, the youngest of whom was born at 27 weeks gestation. He attended what was then called an "infant stimulation" program for his first three years. "I guess my hobby is writing. I always seem to be doing it. Not all of it is work related." Janet also likes to read, hike and be outdoors. She lives in the country on 20 acres and has created a labyrinth out in back of her house. She is intrigued with labyrinths and other ancient spiritual traditions.

Dr. Mangione received his Ph.D. in Education and Human Development from the University of Rochester, and a post doctoral fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psychiatry in Munich, Germany, where he specialized in infant development and the use of video technology to study social behavior. He has worked extensively in the fields of child development, early childhood education, family support services, research and evaluation design and public policy. Currently, Dr. Mangione is a Co-Director at WestEd's Center for Child and Family Studies. He provides leadership in the development of a comprehensive training system for infant and toddler caregivers, the evaluation of early childhood programs and services, and the collaborative efforts of the regional educational laboratories. His contributions have helped make the "Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers" a national model for training early childhood practitioners. He has also been a key contributor to the development of the document "Continuity in Early Childhood: A Framework for Home, School, and Community Linkages," which is being used by policy makers and program planners throughout the country.

Douglas J. Quiett is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies. He is currently responsible for providing leadership that results in implementation of research, development and field service activities that focus on early childhood intervention, family support and community development within the Center's Augmented Family Support Systems Project called Families First. During the last four years in providing clinical supervision in the Families First project he has focused attention on developing effective strategies for providing home visitation to ensure quality service to the project's families. A major concern is strengthening the relationship between parent and child utilizing opportunities provided through home visitation. The second prong in the project's approach is centered around working with community based agencies to create the kinds of collaboration that will ensure improved quality of service to families. He is currently utilizing research findings and lessons learned in providing workshops on home visitation and reflective supervision.

Doug also participates in the Center's program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers training program, presenting workshops on how culture influences providing care to infants and their families. Doug maintains a small private practice in San Rafael, California providing psychotherapy for adolescents, adults and families. His practice includes specialties in work with bi-racial and bi-cultural individuals and families. He is currently providing clinical consultation and training to several organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Doug has also worked as a part-time lecturer with the Department of Social Work Education teaching courses in both the graduate and undergraduate programs at San Francisco State University. He also presents workshops on anti-bias education and cultural competency. He received his Masters Degree in Social Work from San Francisco State University and is licensed by the State of California as a Clinical Social Worker.