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Leah has been collaborating with and supporting families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders for over thirty years. At Center for Spectrum Services, Leah has skillfully developed our Home and Community-Based Program, where very young children with a developmental disorder, usually eighteen months to four years old, can receive specialized Spectrum Services programming in their homes or other community settings.

Leah also serves as our Family Service Department Head, overseeing our Family Services Coordinators, providing parent counseling and training, facilitating parent support groups and educational workshops, overseeing our preschool and Early Intervention developmental evaluations, and coordinating our preschool intake.

She believes that the best outcomes for children can only happen when parents and professional work as partners; with a mutually shared respect, and collaborative decision-making responsibilities. Leah believes that our parents are, by virtue of their bond with their child, the true authorities, and that they can contribute information to which no one else has access. They are the ones who will be actively involved throughout their child’s life.

On the inverse, Leah suggests that our educators and therapists can offer their vast training, education, expertise, and a broader perspective about our educational and treatment methodology. That our professionals and our parents offer only partial knowledge, but when they merge they become a ‘complete expert,’ which is only made possible by developing the parent-professional partnership, and valuing the input of both. The end result being that a strong collaboration between the home and the school only enhances the life skills of each and every one of our students.