I am a speech language pathologist and a board certified behavior analyst. I didn’t even know what a speech therapist was until I shadowed a fellow Ohio SLP in my freshman year at The University of Akron. I observed her work with a variety of clients working on articulation, functional communication training and language based activities. I knew right after this observation that this was exactly what I wanted to do. I have always felt really fortunate that I have always known exactly what career path I wanted to take- helping people on a daily basis is such an amazing experience!I continued my graduate studies with an assistantship at Kent State University. At Kent State, I had the opportunity to work with very dynamic supervisors who worked with a large number of students with autism. I loved my work with all clients but especially those with autism. When I entered the world of work I continued to serve all students but I started to choose employment opportunities that would allow me to gain more experience in working with students with autism and other developmental disabilities. A job opportunity became available for my husband in Austin, Texas. Off we went down to Texas. Wow what a wonderful three years! It was down in Texas that I took courses for my BCBA certification and had the opportunity to work as an autism facilitator and support specialist at Leander ISD. I learned so much in this position about how to work collaboratively with a variety of professionals to help students with autism. This is also where I started to focus on developing and delivering presentations on how to incorporate evidenced based practices into communication programming. Speech therapists are such a very vital piece of any educational team for a student with complex communication needs.
With the birth of our first child, we decided to head back up north to be closer to friends and family. Upon arrival back to Ohio, I took the feared BCBA exam. I passed – hooray! I was elated to hold both certifications. After earning my BCBA, I started delivering many presentations for ASHA approved providers regarding effective practices for students with autism. I had such a wonderful response, that I decided to start this website. In addition to providing professional development, I work in a public school system and a private school for students with autism as a speech language pathologist.
I hope that you will find this site informative and helpful. When we use evidenced based practice and use a collaborative and systematic approach we can help all individuals increase their communication – step by step. – excerpt from abaspeech.org