Gabriela Berlanga is an SLP, and joined ISAAC in 2004 when received the Bridge School’s teacher in residence award where her passion for the AAC field started.

Gabriela is the current Associate Executive Director of The Bridge School and is founder and consultant of CATIC, Centro de Apoyo Tecnológico para la Comunicación y el Aprendizaje, a therapy center located in Mexico City recognized by its leadership in the field of AAC and Assistive Technology in Mexico.

She has been been a Professor at the Universidad de las Américas in the Master of Special Education Arts for more than 10 years.

Member of the North American Alliance for Communication Access (NAACA).

Consultant for the @prende.mx coordination of the Mexican Ministry of Education.

Current Vice-President for Conferences of the International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC).

Gabriela has also presented at numerous national and international conferences, workshops and courses in the field of Speech, Language and AAC.

Miriam C. Boesch, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Special Education in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of North Texas. Her research focuses on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Specifically, she engages in AAC research to assess teacher preparation needs, the reliability of AAC app evaluation tools, compare AAC systems and strategies, and reduce challenging behaviors using AAC systems.

Dr. Boesch teaches courses pertaining to autism, intervention strategies, and behavior management. She is also the co-author of the book: Implementing Effective Augmentative and Alternative Communication Practices for Students with Complex Communication Needs: A Handbook for School-Based Practitioners.

Dr. Boesch serves on the editorial review boards for Communication Disorders Quarterly and TEACHING Exceptional Children and presents her work at various local, national, and international conferences. She is also the project director for Project Communicate (2022-2027), a program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. She is also the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Service Award and the 2017 Faculty Teaching Excellence Award from the University of North Texas College of Education.

Yoosun Chung, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research of the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University in the U.S. Chung received her doctoral degree from George Mason University with a focus on Assistive Technology (AT). Her research interests are individuals who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), individuals with disAbilities and AT. She received her bachelor’s degree from George Mason University in Computer Science and her master’s degree from Cornell University in Computer Science.

Dr. Chung has served as the Past President of the United States Society for AAC (USSAAC) since January 2022. She is also a member of the North American Alliance for Communication Access (NAACA). She was the recipient of the 2020 Online Teaching Excellence Award and 2012 Teaching Excellence Award – Teaching with Technology from the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University. In addition, she received the Edwin and Esther Prentke AAC Distinguished Lecture Award from American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in 2017 and WORDS+/ISAAC Outstanding Consumer Lecture Award from the International Society for AAC (ISAAC).

Gabriela Mangino holds a degree in Business Administration at Universidad La Salle.

Since 2001, she has worked for Mintel International, a marketing research firm, as a freelance collaborator supporting different projects in Mexico and Latin America.

In 2008 her son Diego was born with cerebral palsy. One year after, Diego started attending at CATIC for oral-motor therapy and AAC. Diego continues to use AAC, as well as assisting at the CATIC school and is part of the International Collaboration Project.

Gabriela has attended many different seminars, conferences, and workshops related to AAC, CVI, and literacy for children with disabilities.

Since 2012 she has been part of CATIC´s Dissemination and Training Department and is its current Vice-President. Some of her responsibilities include the coordination of activities for children and conferences for parents. She has also coordinated fundraising events to secure presentations in Mexico by noted international experts.

Since 2016, Gabriela participates in the PHINE (Parents of Kids with Special Needs) foundation, coordinating a support group for parents, conferences and seminars, generating content, and information for PHINE social networks, and working to increase inclusion of special needs kids.

Marcela Manzur completed her Speech and Language Pathology degree at the Universidad de las Américas, Mexico City, in 2003.

For more than 15 years, she has been working in the field of disabilities, providing individual therapy services and participating in Special Education Programs at schools supporting children and mentoring teachers.

In 2005, with her colleague Gabriela Berlanga, she co-founded and is currently director of CATIC “Centro de Apoyo Tecnológico para la Comunicación y el Aprendizaje”.

Marcela has also organized and participated in many conferences in the field of Communication and Special Education, and has collaborated in the dissemination of AAC in Mexico and other countries like Peru and Colombia.

Wendolyn Moreno holds a degree in Advertising from Universidad de la Comunicación. In 2007 she completed her masters degree in Marketing.

For more than 10 years she worked in the field of marketing and advertising in the financial services industry, with such companies as  Arthur Andersen,  Zurich,  American Express and AIG.

In 2011, Wendolyn’s daughter Andrea was born, presenting a rare metabolic disease, Glutaric Aciduria type 1 (GA1). As this was not detected in newborn screening, Andrea suffered a basal ganglia injury, which caused dystonia. Andrea is a non-verbal girl and an AAC user.  Since 2014, Andrea has been attending CATIC’s pre-school program.

Wendolyn has attended different conferences, workshops, and seminars related to AAC, focused on apps for literacy and literacy instruction for children with disabilities.

Since 2012 Wendolyn has been part of CATIC’s Dissemination and Training Department, and is now the Director of this department. In this capacity, she has coordinated activities such as:

• a school for parents;
• training workshops, seminars and conferences to disseminate AAC awareness in Mexico; and
• fundraising.

CATIC’s Dissemination and Training Department also creates a strong community among families with children with disabilities and increasing awareness of the disability culture within the community.