One of the roles of my new job was to provide cleaning services for a family who had multiple children with autism diagnoses. The child I was designated to the majority of the time was the most severely affected. At age eight he did not have any speech or functional communication; he often engaged in extreme behavioural outbursts that were difficult to predict and manage . The experience was eye opening to say the least. Every area of the family’s lives was affected by autism on a daily basis; from speech and communication, to understanding instructions, to the ability to play, to feeding, sleeping, toileting, community involvement, and on and on. While his brothers were better able to communicate and function independently, they still demonstrated significant challenges with basic areas of development that most parents take for granted.

I officially became a BCBA in 2014 after receiving supervision from Ann Beirne, an incredibly experienced and influential BCBA from New York, and passing the certification exam. For the past several years I have resided in Edmonton, Alberta, providing ABA services for families as part of their Specialized Services multidisciplinary teams, working closely and collaboratively with many other disciplines. In addition, I have consulted with teaching staff across countless schools for students with behavioural challenges from preschool to high school. For the past three years I led a specialized intensive learning classroom program for some of the most behaviourally complex children in the city. While autism is the diagnosis I have the most experience with, I have also designed and implemented behavioural programming for individuals with Down Syndrome, ADHD, ODD, and Global Developmental Delay across both the home and school settings. Some of the areas I am most passionate about include teaching functional communication skills (both verbal and with augmentative and alternative communication systems), learning readiness skills, supervision of students of the BACB, ethics of ABA, and parent coaching and advocacy.

In 2020 I created Catalyst Behaviour Services to help Edmonton and area families recieve high quality, effective behavioural supports for their loved ones. My mission is to provide exceptional ABA services to each and every family who is interested in helping their child achieve independence across a variety of meaningful and significant outcomes. I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to truly learn, and every individual is capable of accomplishing tangible progress that will improve their quality of life at any age. I am excited for the endless possibilities of serving Albertan families, and helping to facilitate real, unequivocal change for all of my clients.

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