Welcome Fall! September is always a special time at NBA as so many of our learners head back to school or off to new adventures. It also recognizes NBA’s birthday on Sept. 2, 1999. 2018 marked our 19th year.
We will kick off our 20th anniversary year with our Art for Autism fundraising gala. The event will help us celebrate Northwest Behavior Associates’ past, present and future. AFA is a wonderful opportunity for our community to celebrate everything NBA. Please join us Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Seattle Four Seasons hotel as we honor NBA’s original families and learners and share in an elegant and fun-filled evening. Click here to purchase your ticket.
We are also excited to be partnering with Glassybaby™ this fall. NBA is launching our own Glassybaby™ votives, “Au-some” in blue and “Loved to Pieces” in yellow, collaboratively created by Glassybaby™ artists, NBA Program Manager Lindsay Kienzle and me. Lindsay also named our special pieces. While the official pre-order sales have closed, contact me to order your commemorative sets or pick up a few at the AFA event.
NBA’s Small Group Intervention and Community-Based Instruction programs continue to grow. Small Group Intervention program staff Yoko Phillips and Morgan Tompkins have introduced groups focusing on both puberty and diagnosis awareness. CBI coordinators Randee Wagner and Anna Rosen have continued to expand program options to include yoga, book clubs and more.
We continue to be proud of our amazing staff members and their accomplishments. Both Morgan Tompkins and Cisco Cornidez are now fully certified and licensed behavior analysts. Anna Rosen recently graduated from the Arizona State University master’s program in Applied Behavior Analysis. Behavior Technician Sierra Nolan is in her second year at ASU, and Nicolas Montalvo-Lopez has been accepted into the same program. Kudos to our dedicated and ambitious staff members.
This summer also saw the first summer camp at NBA’s Jordanian affiliate, The Star Project. TSP Program Managers Naomi Poepjes and Bara’ Al Saleem spearheaded weekly cooking, writing and community-based adventures for learners across a wide age range.
Thank you to everyone who has and continues to support NBA. The past 19 years have flown by. We cannot wait to see what the next year and 20 years beyond brings for NBA.
Stacey Shook, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Director