Cristen Carson Reat
Cristen Reat is the Co-Founder and Program Director of BridgingApps.org, a program of Easter Seals Greater Houston. Cristen’s passion for leveraging the power of mobile device technology to enhance the lives of those with special needs comes from personal experience in trying to assist her son with multiple disabilities. BridgingApps is the result of that passion and desire to share information and create a platform for other parents, therapists, people with disabilities and professionals to learn best practices from each other. BridgingApps provides resources, education, and information on apps and mobile devices to help people with disabilities target and improve skills and reach their highest levels of physical and cognitive development. BridgingApps was recognized as a Verizon Powerful Answers award winner for Education in 2014.
Cristen holds a M.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin, graduated from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and is certified through the Assistive Technology Applications Program at California State University. She is a proud veteran of the United States Army, where she served as a linguist and has worked in education for fifteen years, most of that time at an educational non-profit. She has written articles on apps for special needs populations that have appeared in National Down Syndrome Communicator, TechEdge Magazine and Parenting Special Needs Magazine. She is the mother of two sons, one of whom has Down syndrome.