Find the Piece Board
Kristin Porcelli, M.S. CCC/SLP: Kristin has a B.S degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Appalachian State University in Boone NC and a Masters Degree in Speech Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill North Carolina. She currently resides in Wilmington NC where she works for the New Hanover County School system specializing in language intervention for children on the autism spectrum. Throughout her tenure as an SLP she has worked in a variety of settings, including skilled nursing, sub-acute rehabilitation, acute care hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, and served as a regional director of a multidisciplinary private practice. Kristin created the Non-profit “Find the Piece” in conjunction with the Care Project in order to “Fiercely and compassionately emotionally support ALL families who share the journey of autism through connecting the pieces together”
Jamie H. Conrad is the mother of 14-year-old twin boys, Will and Ryan Conrad. Both boys were born almost four months early and spent the first few months of their life in the NICU at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, NC. Will has since been diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy, Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome, as well as autism spectrum disorder. Will and Ryan are in the 8th grade, their last year of middle school, and are looking forward to their upcoming high school years. Jamie and her family currently reside in Lincolnton, NC and have benefited greatly from the many relationships they have had the opportunity to establish throughout the country with others who have shared in similar journeys. Jamie is excited to meet other families through Find the Piece.
Kimberly Bigelow Stokes is a graduate of UNCW, with a degree in Special Education and has been a Special Educator for 30 years. At this time, Kimberly is a lead teacher within New Hanover County Schools for the Transition Program for Young Adults (TPYA), a program for 18-22 year olds. Her goal is to teach students with varying challenges that they can become successful and independent young adults.
Tristin Carpenter is a Clinical Assistant Professor at East Carolina University, College of Nursing. She has been a nurse since 1993, working in a variety of clinical settings; however, her heart is in Community/Public Health Nursing, where she can educate others on prevention and management of illness. Tristin met her future husband after she graduated from nursing school in 1993. Mike was in graduate school at East Carolina at the time. They married in 1995. In 2001, after Tristin completed graduate school and Mike was working on his PhD, the couple found out they were expecting their first child. Their son, Ethan, was born in 2002. He was later diagnosed with Autism in 2008 when he was almost 6 years old. Tristin and Mike also have a 15 year old son named Grant. They all live near Raleigh, North Carolina but also enjoy spending time at Oak Island, where they have a small getaway home there.
Dr. Kerri Wright is a clinical psychologist who specializes in psycho-educational and neuropsychological assessment as well as providing therapeutic support to children and adolescents with developmental disabilities and their families. She completed her doctoral program at Antioch New England Graduate School and was an intern at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center on the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit. After working as a School Psychologist in Rutland, Vermont for 9 years, Dr. Wright pursued an advanced certificate in Autism Spectrum Disorders from the Vermont Higher Education Collaborative through Johnson State College, just prior to moving to North Carolina. She was the Autism Specialist for New Hanover County Schools for 8 years while she was building her private practice. Dr. Wright has also worked in a juvenile detention center, an inpatient setting, as well as in a residential setting with children and adolescents with a variety of diagnoses.
John Pasquarillo, M.D.