CE Bundle 1: Early Childhood

Arthur Channer

Dr. Ronald Brown, a noted expert on the topic of ADHD has served as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic (Health Affairs) at the University of North Texas System.

Dr. Brown completed his Ph.D. from Georgia State University and has been the past President of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and the Association of Psychologists of Academic Health Centers.

He is a board-certified clinical health psychologist and has been an active clinician, teacher, advocate and investigator. He served as a member of the Behavioral Medicine study section of the NIH and chaired several special panels at NIH. He currently serves as the Editor of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice.

Dr. Ronald Brown’s area of specialization includes behavioral sciences, pediatric psychology, attention deficit disorders, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, learning disabilities and psychosocial oncology. 

Michele LaMarche is the co-founder of Special Learning, Inc. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Step By Step Academy (SBSA), a highly-regarded centre-based non-profit Autism treatment centre in Columbus, Ohio. Since its formation almost ten years ago, SBSA has touched the lives of over one thousand students through rigorous application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) treatments, resulting in exceptional outcomes.

Ms. LaMarche, with over fifteen years of professional experience in the field of ABA, uses her knowledge of behavioral treatment to produce ground breaking, effective, empirically validated curricula, a critical factor in successfully mainstreaming hundreds of students with ASD. With her credentials and work through Special Learning and SBSA, she has changed the lives of countless individuals and families affected by ASD.

Amanda Fishley, MA, BCBA, COBA is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Certified Ohio Behavior Analyst. She received her Master’s degree in Special Education/ABA from The Ohio State University. She has been working with in the field of ABA for over ten years.

She has experience working with children, adolescents and adults in school, home and mental health settings. These experiences have allowed her to work closely with parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, as well as mentoring and supervising behavior analysts. She is the Associate Director of Clinical Solutions for Special Learning, creating and presenting educational materials and promoting Special Learning’s mission to positively impact the special needs community.

Jennifer LaLuzerne has been a Clinic Director at Step By Step Academy, Inc. since May 2011. Before that, she served as Program Manager and social worker, starting in 2008. At Step By Step, she is responsible for supervising Program Managers, their staff, and their caseloads, collaborating in the development and monitoring of treatment plans, behavior plans, and ongoing treatment integrity.

Jennifer has a Bachelor's Degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, her Master's Degree in social work from The Ohio State University, and she is completing coursework towards her BCBA through the University of North Texas.

Clinic Director at Step By Step Academy, a position she has held since 2009, where she previously served as Training and Behavior Plan Supervisor,Outreach and Training Coordinator, Program Supervisor/Outreach Support Technician and Behavior Technician.

Christine regularly publishes and presents at professional conferences on the topic of autism and behavioral support. Her areas of expertise include ABA, training, individual education plans (IEPs), treatment planning and behavior modification and behavior management. She has a BA in Psychology and minor in Sociology from Ohio State University. A Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA), Christine trained in Applied Behavior Analysis with the University of North Texas and is certified in Crisis Prevention.

Erin Lombard is currently a behavior consultant with over 12 years of experience working with children with autism and developmental disabilities in homes, schools, and center based programs. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a previous certified Special Education teacher in Arizona. Along with providing consultation through SBSA, she also currently teaches graduate level Positive Behavior Support courses at Northern Arizona University.

Erin is originally from California where she finished her undergraduate degree in Child and Adolescent Studies from California State University, Fullerton. She obtained her master's degree in Special Education from the University of Phoenix. She completed her coursework in applied behavior analysis through the University of North Texas. She is currently working on her PhD in Psychology at Capella University.

Dr. Debbie Coehlo is a certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Pediatric Mental Health Specialist with a Doctoral Degree in Family Sciences and Human Development. She is the Founder and Director of Juniper Pediatrics, a clinic modeled after John F Kennedy’s multidisciplinary system of care. Using a holistic, integrated care model, Juniper provides counseling, medication management and family therapy for children with ASD, ADHD and other childhood mental health disorders.

Dr. Coehlo completed her Master’s in Nursing with a specialty in parent- child nursing. She spent 10 years working at the Child Development Center at the University of Washington in the Genetics Clinic and Multidisciplinary Clinic. In 1999, she complete her Doctorate degree in Human Development and Family Studies. 

She continues to teach at the undergraduate and graduate level and had pursued research in the area of social networking, transitioning to out of home care for families, and child development. 

Dr. Coehlo is a co- editor for the 4th and 5th edition of Family Health Nursing (F.A. Dais, 2010/2013) and has published several journal articles in the areas of families choosing residential care, families in transition, family health nursing, and care of children with special health care needs.

Ms. Manya Ralkowski has been practicing in the field of applied behavior analysis for over 25 years. Her training began under direct education and training from consultants from the Lovaas Clinic in Los Angeles while completing her bachelor of arts in Communication Disorders with endorsements in special education and psychology at Western Washington University. Ms. Ralkowski continued her education and training with a master’s degree in Education from Lesley University and a graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Washington while working as an assistant teacher on the Project DATA grant at the Haring Center-Professional Training Unit. She also possesses a doctorate degree in Instructional Leadership.

Jennifer is a dually credentialed professional, licensed and certified as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She possesses expertise and advanced skills in teaching language to children on the autism spectrum. She has helped clients across the life span from Early Intervention, Preschool through School in both home and center-based settings. Over the past 10 years, she has successfully integrated strategies and techniques from both disciplines to help individuals with autism and their educational teams generate better student outcomes.

Dr. Jenna Sage has worked in multiple capacities in the field of education for nearly 25 years.  She earned her Ph.D. in Special Education focusing on systems change processes and supporting students with emotional behavioral disorders.  Her primary work in the school system was Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Planning, Manifestation Determination, and Restorative Practices.  She held positions from paraprofessional, to classroom teacher, behavior specialist and resolution specialist.

In her current professional role, she is Dean of Career Readiness and Workforce Solutions for a national nonprofit healthcare educational institution.  In that position she supports the cross-departmental development of workforce and career engagement content, cultural and mental health initiatives, and authoring thought leadership communications. 

As a practicing Behavior Analyst, Her professional focus is helping practitioners apply the science of behavior pragmatically, meaningfully and with sustainability. Her two current publications, Happy Class: The Practical Guide to Classroom Management and Happy Student: The Practical Guide to Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Intervention Planning emphasize her ability to make ABA more accessible for educators.  Her most recent book, Manifesting Happy: How to Maintain Self-Care Amidst Challenging Behaviors and Challenging Times highlights how educators can use ABA to develop effective
self-care strategies. 

Dr. Bailey received his PhD from the University of Kansas and is currently Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Florida State University where he was a member of the graduate faculty for 38-years and produced a record 63 PhDs. He is currently Director of the FSU Panama City Masters Program in Applied Behavior Analysis. 

Dr. Bailey has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, is a past editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and is co-author of Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis, How Dogs Learn, Ethics for Behavior Analysts, 2nd Expanded Edition, How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst, and 25 Essential Skills and Strategies for Professional Behavior Analysts, all co-authored with Dr. Mary Burch.

Karen is the Founder and CEO of Special Learning. She started the company in 2010 after learning about the effectiveness of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) juxtaposed against the reality that over 95% of the world did not have access to ABA. As an entrepreneur with over 20 years of corporate experience, she started Special Learning to leverage existing and emerging technology to make quality ABA resources and services available to parents, educators and professionals around the world.

Karen’s entrepreneurial experience includes starting and growing a diversity retained executive search firm specializing in placing women and minority executives in leadership positions of Fortune 1,000 companies. Her investment banking background includes working with various venture capital and private equity companies to facilitate deal flow while representing CEOs of rapidly growing companies seeking to raise equity and debt capital for various middle market businesses and commercial real estate developers. Her corporate background includes various leadership and functional roles in Fortune 1,000 and middle market companies.  Her additional entrepreneurial activities include owning and operating high end boutique

She graduated with a Masters of Management degree from Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a recipient of the Elijah Watts Sells Award from the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA), an award granted to less than top 5% of all CPA exam candidates.