What are you good at? What are you motivated by? Would you still go to work if you stopped receiving a paycheck? This is what I want to help you or your child determine. Because once this has been unlocked the possibilities for all of us are limitless. Motivation is very powerful yet personal. If you asked me if I was intrinsically motivated to do the dishes my answer would be NO! However, someone else out there in the world might love that job. Good match, right? My goal is to determine your child’s preferences and to use and capitalize on them in order to teach essential life skills. I provide a spectrum of services to individuals with autism and other special needs ranging from 18 months old to adult. Check out the spectrum of services page for details.
Okay so you are wondering why there are some…well...emotional pictures of me on this page. Many times individuals with autism have difficulty with social cues and understanding their own emotions and those of others. Therefore teaching these individuals how to recognize emotions in themselves and others is an important life skill. This is something that I greatly enjoy teaching as I am a very animated person. If you are having fun while teaching you can be assured the person you are teaching is having fun too. As Temple Grandin has explained to the world, individuals on the autism spectrum generally think in pictures. She also indicates that individuals on the autism spectrum have difficulty understanding emotions. So…why not use pictures of animated people to teach them to understand? Ideally, I would take pictures of the individual themselves when they are happy, sad, scared or surprised. For purposes of this website I had pictures taken of myself which illustrate the emotions Temple deemed most important.
My background is comprehensive and consists of law, business, marketing, applied behavior analysis, college coaching and special education. Having this eclectic background has allowed me to “think outside of the box” and come up with creative and fun ways to learn. Multisensory learning using multimedia is my main focus. All of the behavioral/educational consultation I provide is centered on this as well as best practices in the field of special education and the principles of the science of behavior. Working with me you’ll get all of this plus the added bonus of empathy in that I am an adult sibling of a sister with disabilities! A dear colleague of mine has deemed me as “the human behaviorist” – her words not mine. So if that’s what you’re looking for we have a match. All the best to you and yours!
Nicole Turon-Diaz, CDS, MA Ed./SpEd.