Dr. Irene Russo is a Certified ESDM therapist, ESDM Apprentice Trainer, and is the Site Director for the demonstration program (ECB) in the San Francisco Bay Area. She earned her Master of Science and Ph.D. in Italy and is currently in training to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the US. She has been utilizing the ESDM since 2014. Irene led the data collection for the implementation science research collaboration with Early Days Autism Center, University of Salerno, and community based pre-schools in Sacramento and Italy (data is currently being analyzed). She is the Vice President of Every Child, a not for profit corporation supporting inclusion of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Learn more about the program with Every Child Bay
Demonstration Program Team Members
Melissa Mello, M.ED. BCBA has a Master’s Degree in Special Education from San Francisco State University and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Melissa is certified in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) as a therapist, parent coach (P-ESDM), and a trainer both locally and internationally. She currently works for the MIND Institute. At the MIND she provides case supervision to children receiving Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) as their intervention approach, as well as parent coaching and general supervision to the lab. She has been working with children with autism for the past 10 years in a variety of settings, including as a special education teacher and early interventionist delivering one on one intervention in community based programs. For the past 7 years, Melissa has been supervising early intervention programs as a Clinical Manager; using behaviorally based, empirically validated methods to ensure children with autism are improving their behavior, language and social skills at home and in the classroom. Melissa is a consultant to EDAC.
Yamit Karabelnik, Master in Child Development is a Certified ESDM Trainer and a G-ESDM specialist. She earned her Master in Education and Child Development in Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Yamit has been working with children with ASD since 2012. She has been trained and mentored by Dr. Zierhut Ursu since she began utilizing the ESDM method in 2014. She was a fellow at the International Training Program for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the Collaborative Start Lab at Mind Institute, UC Davis before returning home to Tel Aviv Israel. Her work is to help expand the use of ESDM in the middle East and disseminate the use of GESDM around the world. Helping children and their families to access services within community inclusive settings to help children to learn, grow and interact. She continues to develop GESDM training modules and dissemination efforts with EDAC.
To contact us
In Italian
irene.russo@earlydays.center
In Hebrew
yamit.karabelnik@earlydays.center