Dr. Klein studied speech pathology and audiology at Western Michigan University and received her doctorate in developmental psychology from Michigan State University. She has had a wide range of experiences with children with disabilities, including children with severe and multiple disabilities. She also has years of experience as a university instructor and clinical supervisor in the fields of communication disorders and special education. She is currently Professor and Chair of the Early Childhood Special Education Department at California State University-Los Angeles, where she coordinated the credential, master’s, and certificate programs in infancy and early childhood special education. These programs emphasize the training of early intervention personnel to work in urban multicultural environments. In addition to her work at the university, Dr. Klein frequently conducts in-service training in the areas of communicative skills for children with disabilities, curriculum development in early childhood special education, and inclusion support strategies.

Dr. Klein has directed numerous federal grant projects, including Project Support, a project to develop training models and materials related to inclusion support skills and methods in early childhood special education. She has conducted research in the area of mother-infant communication and has developed early intervention programs that serve families at high risk including the Mother-Infant Communication project. She serves on numerous boards and committees related to early intervention services in the state of California and is Executive Director of Centro De Ninos y Padres Intervention Program.