Experience

Graduate Researcher, Sonoma State University. My thesis asks what paraeducators themselves would want from their training. I am recruiting and interviewing up to twenty paraeducators in inclusive classrooms across the United States, with reflexive thematic analysis in Dedoose to follow. Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth Ducy.

Research Fellow, Biliteracy and Content Area Integrated Preparation (BCAIP), Sonoma State University. A fellowship in qualitative method, where I coded around 80 interview transcripts in Dedoose and built qualitative coding skills I now use in my own thesis work.

Researcher, Aestima, Latvia. Co-authored three reports on AI in autism assessment and digital employment for autistic adults, building the comparison tables that organized the evidence in each. For the assessment report, synthesized the literature on AI methods for classifying autism and the data and devices they rely on. Also curated the knowledge base behind Aestima Superbot, an LLM-based research and evidence-synthesis tool.

Psychologist, OquNow, Kazakhstan. Counseled families of children with disabilities and ran sessions for parents and schools on inclusive education.

Director and Psychologist, El-Zhan Inclusive Kindergarten, Kazakhstan. Led one of the first inclusive kindergartens to open in Kazakhstan as the country moved to expand inclusive education, serving 100 children.

Developer and Instructor, accredited Professional Development Program in Inclusive Education and Training of Paraeducators, Kazakhstan. Trained more than a hundred educators and paraeducators.

Counseling Psychologist and Play Therapist, Yom Yom Center of Inclusion (formerly Adain Lo), Russia. Began as a volunteer paraeducator in inclusive classrooms in 2014, then joined as staff, providing play therapy and support in inclusive early childhood settings and running online parent groups from 2020 to 2023.