Senior Consultant/Director of Operations
Dr. Ruppel’s work focuses on the practical functional assessment and skill-based treatment of problem behavior, as well as preventing the development of severe problem behavior in young children with autism. She began her career as a teaching assistant in a specialized school for students with developmental disabilities and eventually served as a school-based special education teacher, BCBA, and curriculum supervisor. She has also implemented and supervised in-home ABA programming, taught courses as a faculty fellow at Western New England University, served as the Associate Director of Dr. Hanley’s Life Skills Clinic at Western New England University, and served as a BCBA at an inpatient hospital program for children with severe problem behavior. Kelsey has served as a consultant to a range of organizations, including schools, in-home and outpatient clinic providers, and residential programs.
One mission of FTF is to forge connections among professionals internationally. Kelsey has long been interested in this goal; she earned her Bachelor’s degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she won awards for work on the history of Polish politics and German-Russian relations, and she spent a semester studying abroad at the University of Vienna, Austria. Following graduation, Kelsey pursued her other passion, working with children, and earned a Master’s degree in Special Education from Johns Hopkins University and a doctoral degree in Behavior Analysis from Western New England University under the supervision of Dr. Hanley.
