Amy Pena

Amy Palacios Pena is a Speech Language Pathologist and Early Childhood Developmental Specialist with over 10 years of experience working in the field of pediatrics. Mrs. Pena obtained her master’s degree in 2010 from Texas Woman’s University in Denton TX. She opened the FIRST bilingual development center in the Rio Grande Valley, which caters to both the neurotypical & atypical population ages 0-6. Her center provides children of her community with the opportunity to reach their maximum potential in areas such as pre-literacy skills, financial literacy, and social/ emotional development before they begin school. In addition, the early intervention services some children may require are available by trained medical professionals as well.

Before opening Skyline Academy, Amy spent 6 years as a clinical director for The Institute of Child Health Services in Brownsville, Harlingen, and Pharr Texas. After a successful career helping open and establish pediatric medical clinics, Amy now helps children and families who need guidance or do not have the resources to receive medical intervention.
Amy enjoys continuing education and research, as she is a pioneer in the importance early childhood development and its lasting effects in life. Having attended courses all over the country, she recently added Harvard University to her list. There, she was able to work with colleagues from around the world on creating a theory of change when it comes to early development.

Amy Pena's Conference Trainings

• What Can We Do to Support Child Development?

  This course will cover child growth and development giving learners an opportunity to monitor developmental milestones and to identify any red flags in development early on, communicate with parents, and ensure the child gets as much help as needed to reach their maximum potential before beginning school. In addition, Age- appropriate curriculum will be covered and examples of modifications will be presented to ensure each child is participating at their age appropriate level and progressing in academics. Last, behavior modification techniques will be taught, and teacher child interaction will be reviewed. Case studies will be studied to reinforce the effectiveness and benefits of behavior modification and its contribution to a better teacher-child relationship.
  3 hours

• Healthy Brain Development for Infants and Toddlers: Serve and Return

  During this training, successful participants will (3 objectives): 1-Be able to implement & practice specific cognitive development techniques for infants & toddlers such as ‘serve and return’ (Child Growth and Development; Typical Versus Atypical Development, Responsive Interactions and Guidance; Relationships with Individual Children: Security, Warmth, and Responsiveness; Developmentally Appropriate Guidance: Supporting Social and Emotional Development) 2-Participants will learn the order in which to introduce Prelinguistic Skills to better track cognitive development (Responsive Interactions and Guidance; Relationships with Individual Children: Security, Warmth, and Responsiveness; Developmentally Appropriate Guidance: Supporting Social and Emotional Development, Child Growth and Development) 3-Participants will learn and be able to practice Serve and Return techniques and appropriate tracking of Prelinguistic skills in infants & toddlers. (Responsive Interactions and Guidance; Relationships with Individual Children: Security, Warmth, and Responsiveness; Developmentally Appropriate Guidance: Supporting Social and Emotional Development, Child Growth and Development).
  1 hour

• Building Language: 11 Prelinguistic Skills

  During this training, successful participants will (3 objectives):
  • Participants will learn typical development of 11 Prelinguistic Skills (Child Growth and Development; Typical Versus Atypical Development; Responsive Interactions and Guidance)
  • Participants will learn how to actively observe children in their care for acquisition of 11 Prelinguistic skills, track acquisition and therefore immediately identify a delay in development, how to stimulate each skill as needed (Child Growth and Development; Responsive Interactions and Guidance; Relationships with Individual Children: Security, Warmth, and Responsiveness; Supporting Skill Development; Social and Emotional Development: Self-Concept, Behavior Regulation, Emotional Control, Attention, and Social Skills, Language and Communication ; Observation and Assessment; Observation, Assessment, and Documentation; Supporting Children with Special Needs )
  • Participants will effectively relay to parents the need for additional stimulation at home with examples (Families and Community Relationships: Respect for Families; Relationships with Children and Families; Encouraging Parent Involvement; Positive Communication; Community Resources to Support Families)
  1 hour