Goviana Morales is a mother of 5 children, two of whom have a diagnosed disability. Realizing early on that she needed to educate herself to navigate the special education system, she participated in CPAC’s Next Steps program. Other training followed with Partners in Policy Making, Special Education Advocacy Training through COPAA, ASCRC, and SpEdConnecticut. She is currently enrolled in college, studying in a speech and language assistant program. Goviana is part of the management team, serving on the Executive for SpEdConnecticut as well as acting as a parent advisor. Being bi-lingual, Goviana provides parent advisor services primarily to our Spanish-speaking families, empowering those families who due to the language barrier face extra hurdles when advocating for their children. Goviana is also the friendly voice who greets our clients, listening to their concerns and advising them on our in-take process.
Beth Bucciferro has a BS in Information Management Systems from UCONN and an MS in Computer Science from the University of New Haven and is self-employed as a Website Consultant. She has a child with multiple learning challenges. After advocating for him for over 10 years, she was trained in special education advocacy through the COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) SEAT program. She completed SpEdConnecticut Fall Training in 2018 and joined the Board in January of 2019.
Siobhan Brearley M.A. is a former middle school teacher and administrator. With a desire to spend more time with her children, she decided to stay home with her 3 children. She has worked as a part time private tutor and life coach at Mitchell College for the past 14 years. She has experience working with students with a variety of disabilities including autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADHD, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder. She has taken a number of trainings including CPAC’s parent training and train the trainer, SPED CT’s 12 week advocacy training, and a large number of conferences and trainings on reading disabilities and effective reading instruction based on the science of reading. She is a parent support specialist for PATH parent-to-parent Family voices of CT and is part of the 2020 class of Partners in Policy Making. Siobhan is dedicated to helping families learn more about the special education system and helping teachers receive the training they need in order to make a positive impact on all children.
