Born and raised in Toledo, Alba has always been clear about her two great passions: child psychology and languages. At the age of 18 she moved to Madrid to study a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at Complutense University of Madrid. The internship at the Clinical Psychology Unit of the UCM gave her a first-hand experience of what her future profession would be like.

As the years went by, she developed a keen interest in neuropsychology. She wanted to be able to understand the relationship between the brain and behaviour. In particular, she wanted to delve deeper into Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, emphasising the importance of executive functions and how they condition our learning and behaviour. This interest led her to study the Master’s Degree in Child Neuropsychology. The internship at the Child Brain Injury Unit of the Beata María Ana de Jesús Hospital only corroborated that this was definitely her path. During those months, she had the opportunity to help children who had either lost their abilities as a result of an accident or who started with a developmental delay related to difficulties during pregnancy or childbirth. The cognitive stimulation sessions showed her the great plasticity of these children’s brains, allowing advances that would be unthinkable for adults.

A few months later she was offered the opportunity to work in a hospital, presenting her services as a neuropsychologist in their cognitive stimulation programme for patients with early and moderate stages of neurodegenerative diseases. In each session, the different cognitive functions were stimulated, ensuring that the materials were adapted to the needs of the users and to the evolutionary stage of the disease. The closeness demonstrated by the patients day after day showed that there were also affective needs to be covered, with empathy and warmth on the part of the professional being essential to develop better adherence to the programme.

Finally, she started working at SINEWS in 2018 as a home-based educational psychology support professional with children with learning difficulties, ADHD and other neuropsychological disorders. After an initial interview with the family where the student’s needs are presented, Alba establishes and explains to them what the objectives of the work will be. Session after session, she helps the student to develop an effective study routine, teaching them organisation and time management skills, useful learning strategies and, in short, giving them all the help they need to be able to achieve good academic results. Creativity in adapting materials to the student’s needs is essential to achieve good results, as is constant communication with the student, family and school. 

In addition to her role as a study coach, Alba has continued to develop her career at Sinews providing home-based cognitive stimulation services to adults with neurodegenerative diseases, motivated by the enriching experience she had years ago.  

Thanks to Sinews, she remembered her passion for languages and her need to continue improving her English to be able to communicate openly with clients of other nationalities, bilingualism being another of her vital goals. 

Over time, Alba has become the coordinator of the specialised services of psycho-pedagogical support and speech therapy in the classroom and at home, serving as a link between families, schools and the different Sinews professionals working in this area. Her work includes the selection and training of new candidates for the team, the design of action protocols and the supervision of the professionals. She also organises first assessment interviews with families requesting psycho-pedagogical support services in order to get to know the child’s needs in depth and assign the most suitable professional for each case. She maintains constant contact with professionals, families and the school to ensure that the objectives set are being met and that there is an effective synergy between all of them.