About Me

My motivation for gathering and creating these resources for parents and caregivers is one and the same with who I am. I was an adult when the psychologist I’d been working with for nearly three years confirmed what I had speculated for over half a decade: I was on the autism spectrum. Previously known as Asperger’s, I was another overlooked girl far better at figuring out what was and wasn’t acceptable social behavior and faking what was. Plus, I read a lot of books. Consider the equivalent to be hitting two birds with one stone; reading is fun and people leave you alone while you’re doing it… one of the few societal norms I am grateful for. 

I was twenty-five when I found myself entering the workforce for the first time since a summer job between college semesters when I was sixteen. What was my second “official” job? Subway. It’s as miserable as you’d imagine. Except for the sandwich making part, I liked that. Lucky for me, that associate degree I’d gotten in psychology was going to become more than an expensive souvenir. A non-profit ABA company reached out to me after finding my resume online. One interview later and I was in a field I’d never heard about, a field that would become a very significant part of my life in ways I couldn’t imagine. 

I was at that job as a behavioral therapist for nine months. I had found a passion I didn’t know I had. I loved the clients I spent my days with. I took joy in learning their personalities; my favorite part of it all was creating smiles on the faces of the kids or adults I spent hours and hours with, while also teaching them skills that would make their lives easier. I loved seeing their progress and being a part of what felt like such an amazing field. While I was at that job, I became pregnant with twins that would eventually be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

The irony of being in a field for four years before my own children, who didn’t exist at the time, would need the same type of support, is not lost on me. I’ve felt very fortunate from the beginning of our journey into ABA that I had the knowledge and experience those years gave me. The more I delved into the caregiver side of ABA, the more I leaned on that knowledge and experience to advocate for my children. I started to see a side in which I had not been privy to before: that of the parent. 

I found myself leaning on my experience as a professional in the field far more than felt reasonable. My knowledge of the ABA lingo was an invaluable resource that I relied on during every single session. When my son first started with his BTs and BIP, there were several things I interrupted or requested changed after just one session. Despite all the homes I’d worked in, that was not something I’d experienced from a caregiver and I could understand why. 

During one particular instance, the BCBA had stated in the BIP that my child could not leave an environment in which a behavior had begun until after the behavior (recorded as a tantrum) had ended (no longer crying, flailing, etc). When the RBT blocked my child, who was functionally screaming “mom” for me, I stepped in. The BCBA amended that amongst the entire team and the written BIP immediately. My son was two years old at the time, screaming and crying is a normal reaction to basically every situation. As if it weren’t a terrible intervention to put in place because of his speech delays alone, it was also denying him access to his primary coping strategy: me! After that situation, it really dawned on me that a parent who didn’t know as much about child development, autism, ABA, etc would likely have responded very differently than I did. 

The longer this journey went on, the more I realized I had a very unique perspective into the world of ABA. That of an autistic person; that of a professional in the field; and that of the parent of autistic children. The clash of these three views has allowed me to see a larger picture than I was able to when I was autistic, but had not worked in the field of ABA or when I was autistic and working in the field, but had not been the parent trying to help their child in every way they could. 

I want everyone to have the resources I had when I started utilizing ABA therapy for my children. I believe the vast majority of us parents only want what is best for our children; we do that to the best of our ability. Our ability is limited by the resources available to us, including knowing what we need to know so we can know what we need to learn about so that we can make fully informed decisions. 

I hope these resources help you learn things you didn’t know previously and I hope it inspires you to delve into topics that interest you beyond whatever tidbit I shared. With knowledge comes power; let's be powerful together!