Page 30 - Education Issue

Women of Distinction

REENA B. PATEL, LEP, BCBA

Author, Advocate, And AutiZm CEO

Photos Courtesy of Reena B. Patel

exceptional needs, supporting their help provide the strategies and interven-
academic, behavioral and social devel- tions to get our children the resources
opment. they need to succeed in life,” says Ms.
It all started while in graduate school Patel. So she decided to start her own
when Ms. Patel was working at UCLA’s company doing just that.
NeuroPsychiatric Hospital’s Early Child- As Founder and CEO of AutiZm &
hood Partial Day Program. It was here More, Ms. Patel serves to help children
when Ms. Patel first worked with chil- and their families embed positive be-
dren with Autism, “I realized my love for havior support strategies across home,
special needs children and how I wanted school and community settings. Her
to support them through their educa- company strives to improve the quality
tional journey and work with families to of life for children of special needs and
make sure they had access to everything all individuals involved within the social
a typically developing child would.” From network of a child with special needs.
then on, Ms. Patel was on a mission to She routinely holds workshops through-
make sure that all children are included out California, guiding and training
no matter what. parents, mental health professionals,
She began to hone in on identifying families and educators on the purpose
any limiting factors whether it be learning of inclusion and how it can be beneficial
challenges, physical impairments, and/or for all children by focusing on positive
social/emotional difficulties by working behavior support at home and in the
in schools. Ms. Patel successfully created classroom, parent education, academic
“To gain knowledge and strength Autism programs, conducted ongoing and social emotional interventions, and
through study and experience, while training in Behavior Interventions for truly understanding special education.
laughing along the journey, to better District Administrators, Teachers, and Staff, Of course, she didn’t stop there, true
support our family and friends in an created District Behavior Training Mod- to her family mission statement, Ms.
effort to serve society.” ules (teacher and instructional assistants), Patel wanted to serve society in a more
This is the family mission statement implemented parent education trainings direct, meaningful manner. She wanted
of Reena B. Patel, LEP, BCBA, and it’s not to assist with generalization of educa- to take her positive message of kindness
just what she and her husband preach to tional skills and positive behaviors across and compassion to more than just the
their three curiously active children, it’s settings, conducted comprehensive Psy- special needs families she was already
what she practices - day in and day out - cho-Educational and Functional Behavior- helping. She wanted to take her mes-
for the benefit of all types of children in al Assessments and so much more. sage to the masses.
her community and beyond. It’s precise- And then, she wanted to do more. “I That’s when the idea of writing
ly how and why she’s gotten to where wanted to help identify the factors and children’s stories came about, “I want to
she is today professionally, personally teach an overall theme of compassion
and academically, and how she plans to and kindness. Through my practice and
get to where she’s going tomorrow. And when working with clients in therapy, I
it’s what drives every action she takes
in her life, constantly reminding her of
what her core values are.
For more than 20 years, Ms. Patel has
had the privilege of working with fami-
lies and children supporting all aspects
of education and positive wellness as a
Guidance Counselor, Licensed Educa-
tional Psychologist, and Board Certified
Behavior Analyst. Ms. Patel has worked
extensively with typically developing
children as well as with children with

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