BIO

Dr. Avila has more than 16 years of professional experience working with children, adolescents, and parents from different cultural backgrounds in the educational and clinical fields in the US and in El Salvador. She specializes in parent coaching and psychological and psychoeducational evaluations for specific learning disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety disorders. Her passion is focused on helping parents understand their children and find answers and helping their children to be successful academically, at home and in life. 

 

She earned degrees from the University of Notre Dame (B.A.) and Texas A&M University (Ph.D.) in psychology. She is the only psychologist in El Salvador certified as a school psychologist in the US, she is a licensed psychologist in El Salvador,  and practices from El Salvador. 

 

She has held various leadership positions, creating policies to improve the socio-emotional health of children and adolescents within the educational institution. She has conducted trainings for schools on issues related to social-emotional health, child development, and student well-being, including protection from child abuse. She practiced school and clinical psychology in the states of Texas and Florida and for the last 4 years, formed and led the Counseling Department as Head of Counseling at the American School of El Salvador. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the US National Association of School Psychologists where she has presented research studies at their annual conference.