Meet the Behavior Dude

Steven has been helping families and schools understand the language of behavior and providing practical behavioral solutions for 18 years. During a career in Theatre, a parent of a child with Autism realized he had a gift working with students on the spectrum while he was teaching a theatre class. She invited him to be a teacher at a speech and language school in Austin TX. This school developed a 1:1 instruction program called Horizon, which was one of the first school based ABA programs using the principles of Verbal Behavior. Steven worked as a teacher and began studying Applied Behavior Analysis and became a Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst in 2004. He designed home programs and consulted in the Austin area school districts for 10 years. In 2013 Steven earned a masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction and Applied Behavioral Analysis from Arizona State University. In 2014 Steven moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to be a Clinical Director at Gateway Learning. In 2016 Steven decided to do the Silicon Valley startup thing by helping to found a multidisciplinary practice called Optimus Outcome that integrated behavior, speech, and occupational therapy. After the operation was moving Steven decided to return to his first love, private family and school consultation. He currently serves several school districts and therapeutic service providers in the Bay Area with consultations and professional development workshops. He also travels internationally and recently returned from consulting and conducting workshops with several schools in Thailand.  He spends many hours a week in meetings with parents and school districts advocating to transform the lives of students in public school settings. He continues to help families with home behavior change systems. The theme of the times is practical use of screen time. He also consults with Square Peg Foundation, a theraputic riding program, to create natural environment treatment plans for ABA programs. Steven deeply believes that a well-designed sensory environment creates infinite learning opportunities for all people.