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INFORMATION FOR

Staff

  • Margaret Oliveira, PhD

    Executive Director

    Associate Research Scientist

    Education
    PhD, Brandeis University, 2000; BA, Fairfield University, 1994

    Dr. Peg Oliveira is the Director of the Gesell Program in Early Childhood at the Yale Child Study Center. She is a faculty member and Associate Research Scientist at Yale University. She is a developmental psychologist and advocate whose work focuses on advocating for child centered approaches to teaching and parenting young children. She is particularly interested in how to encourage more play at school and at home. Dr. Oliveira consults regularly with schools and districts to educate teachers and parents on developmentally appropriate practice and play based learning.

    For fifteen years prior to coming to Yale, Peg was a Senior Policy Fellow with CT Voices for Children as well as a consultant to other child advocacy organizations. Peg was a consultant to the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood to define the state’s original core knowledge and competencies for early childhood educators.

    Peg is a member of the Goddard School’s Education Advisory Board. Previously she served on the Board of Directors of the Becket Chimney Corners YMCA, and was the founding director of 108 Monkeys, a nonprofit yoga service organization.

  • Jade Greene

    Education Programs Administrator

    Program Administrator

    Jade Greene is the Education Programs Administrator for the Gesell Program in Early Childhood. With over ten years of teaching experience in early childhood, her passion for play-based learning pours into classrooms as she supports and mentors teachers in how to build play in their rooms. Jade has a Bachelor's Degree and has spent time in Finland and Sweden learning about Forest schools and the importance of nature, play, and freedom in classrooms which create spaces for children to feel safe, learn and thrive. She has worked with Gesell since 2021.

National Lecture Staff

  • Patsy Griffin

    National Lecture Staff - North Carolina

    Patsy Griffin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and Master of Counseling degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She is certified as a Dyslexia Testing Specialist and as a Trauma and Loss Specialist by The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children.

    Retired from education with 36 years of experience in School Counseling and over 30 years of experience administering the GDO-R, she was first trained to use the GDO-R in the 1980s and continued to use it throughout her career in counseling and admissions. Both the GDO-R and the developmental information it offers have been very valuable tools to her as she helped and advised families. Knowing the information in the GDO-R has also helped her with planning for and understanding her own children and grandchildren.

  • Sally Coleman Keller

    National Lecture Staff - Michigan

    Sally Coleman Keller is an Early Childhood educator and advocate. She has retired from her most recent position of teaching and directing a local preschool. After receiving her BA from Alma College in Michigan, she continued on to earn her MAT in Early Childhood Education from Oakland University, in Rochester, MI.

    Sally started in Early Childhood and throughout her career has held various educational roles including initiating programs for young children in her community, working with parents, consulting, as well as teaching and leading a preschool. Sally has been a member of the National Lecture Staff for nearly 40 years, and previously served as the NLS Director. Sally is a parent and a grandparent which gives her a special connection when explaining to parents and educators the important connection between child development and the overall learning continuum.

  • Cecelia Locke

    National Lecture Staff - Connecticut

    Cecilia Locke holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Counseling degrees from St. Edward's University in Austin TX. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and completed a Montessori Teaching Certification. Cecilia has worked in the education field for over 30 years; 20 in early childhood. Cecilia is now retired from her last position as the Director of Students Support Services at a private school in Texas. In this role she supported the learning and development of children in Pre-K 3 through 8th grade who needed guidance in order to be successful in school.

    Cecilia completed her first Gesell GDO-R workshop in Grapevine, Texas in 1999; she was immediately hooked. Cecilia joined the National Lecture Staff in 2015. Over her many years using the Gesell Assessment System she is convinced of the value of a tool to help in placing children with their developmental peer group. She is fond of saying, “Viewing children through a developmental lens is life changing; it provides insight into developmentally appropriate behavior and academic expectations for each unique child.”

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