Ms. Andrea Kalvesmaki, Research Associate
For over ten years, Andrea has worked in education as a private educational coach in Salt Lake City, Utah, serving the needs of students and schools in order to bridge many difficulties facing students struggling with diagnoses and/or school issues. Her time ‘on the ground floor’ of education motivated her to develop her interests toward applied research, utilizing reporting and writing as a tool to assist the needs of students, administrators, and other invested professionals (i.e. doctors, psychologists). Her research emphasizes understanding the complexity of issues surrounding ‘disability’, the meaning behind diagnostic procedures and concepts, as well as inter-cultural elements, issues, and contexts. Her thesis on ADHD in the Netherlands resulted in the first linguistic analysis of the diagnosis internationally. She is also co-author with Dr. M. Tsethlikai on a cross-cultural comparison of elementary aged children titled Children’s Social Perspective Taking Ability: Intra and inter-group differences in two economically and socially stratified American Communities. (In press 2011: Cognitive Development). The poster for this project was presented at the International TransCultural Psychiatry Conference in the Netherlands, in July 2010. She continues to speak and write on disability, ADHD, and student issues for professional and lay audiences.
Ms. Kalvesmaki holds a master’s degree in medical anthropology from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and a bachelors of arts in psychology from the University of Utah. She holds certificates in Best Psycho-educational practices (2009), Physio-neuro therapy for education (2006) and Neuro-linguistics (2003). While she is currently based in Washington, D.C. she maintains close professional and personal ties with both Utah and Europe.