Our Team

The Aspire Early Intervention team includes caring, talented, and committed people who are dedicated to assisting your child reach their potential.

Clinical Director

Dianne Verstappen

B.A. Education, B. App. Sci. (Physiotherapy), currently enrolled in MA. Comm. Dis.

Dianne Verstappen is a registered physiotherapist in NSW and completed an undergraduate degree in physiotherapy and teaching, specialising in teaching children with special needs and curriculum development. Currently, she is in the process of completing a Masters degree in Linguistics and specialising in Communication Disorders at Macquarie University.

From 1994–1999 she has provided programs for children with a variety of special needs, such as children with Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome in a variety of settings, including pre-school, primary school and swimming classes. She worked at the Centre for Autism and Related Disorders from 2000–2006 where she trained under Dr. Granpeesheh (BCBA), Marla Saltzman (BCBA) and Dr. Sebastien Bosch. Dianne has provided ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) services to children with autism, PDD-NOS and Asperger’s Syndrome since 1999 in Australia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

She has a strong background in providing parent, teacher and therapist training in both theoretical and practical workshops covering a variety of ABA related topics. These include Applied Verbal Behaviour (AVB), Behaviour Management, Discrete Trial Training (DTT) and Theory of Mind. Over the last few years Dianne has specialised in teaching children play and social skills through Natural Environment Training (NET) and PRT (Pivotal Response Training).

Her current research interests are in Relational Frame Theory and its practical applications.

Office Manager

Jacqii Pilarski

Jacqii has worked in customer service orientated roles for over 15 years – having worked in retail, accounts and recruitment, she is well versed in liaising with clientele to ensure needs and expectations are achieved. At Aspire Jacqii is responsible for liaising between clients and staff, scheduling, recruiting staff and overall management of all office duties.

A mother of 3, Jacqii has been highly involved in school and extracurricular environments, supporting reading and maths programs, regularly tutoring children with special needs at her local school and coaching a young netball team.

Jacqii is highly organised, motivated and thoroughly enjoys interacting with the children and families involved with Aspire.

Program Managers

Program Managers design, implement and evaluate programs and behaviour intervention plans. They also train therapists and are available to answer questions about your child’s program. Depending on their availability they also conduct one on one therapy with your child prior to team meetings or in between team meetings.

Miruna Thaventhiran

Program Manager

Miruna graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours in Psychology). Miruna has over three years experience delivering intensive support services to children with autism and their families. Professional development workshops undertaken include applied behaviour analysis, challenging behaviour training and school strategies for children with autism. Her interest are in Executive Functioning and Verbal Behaviour.

Kylie Bailey

Program Manager

Kylie is currently completing a Bachelor of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney and expects completion early next year, after which she will commence a Masters in Clinical Psychology. Kylie commenced working with children with ASD in 2008, and in this short space of time has worked with a number of children all of varying ages and developmental levels, both in their home and as a shadow in preschools and primary schools. Kylie has undertaken courses in Applied Behavioural Analysis, Human Learning, Cognition, Child Development and Developmental Psychology. Kylie has particular interest in working on flexibility, social skills and specialises in introducing children to new foods.

Katherine Santiago

Program Manager

Katherine has completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Psychology), Masters of Teaching (Primary) and a Masters of Special Education (Specialising in Emotional Disturbance and Behavioural Disorders). She is a qualified Special Needs and Primary Teacher and has had experience working with children of all abilities. Katherine has also had 7 years experience working with Autism and ABA and has implemented behavioural intervention, designed, worked and maintained individual education and positive behavioural support plans within pre-school, primary school and home settings. Katherine is constantly looking for opportunities to professionally develop and be involved in extra curricular activities in order to be an effective, helpful and competent educator. Having completed courses in PECS, Makaton signing, Sensory input and First Aid, as well as attending DET courses on the use of the Interactive Whiteboard, ESL students and Quality teaching. Her interests include the use of natural environment training, positive behavioural support in a whole school environment as well as a multisensory approach to learning.

Sanjna Shettar

Program Manager

Sanjna graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree (Psychology). She has worked in the Autism and ABA field for more than three years. Sanjna has predominantly worked with non-verbal children across a broad spectrum of ages including infancy through to adolescence. Her experience has also involved providing respite services to families with developmental disorder(s). Professional development workshops undertaken include applied behaviour analysis. Her interests are in Executive functioning, Language and Communication and Social skills.

Rebecca Jaggard

Program Manager, Intern Psychologist.

Rebecca completed a Bachelor of Arts, with majors in History and Government & International Relations in 2005. She then completed a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, followed by a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Psychology in 2008. She has over three years experience delivering intensive behaviour therapy to children with autism and ADHD in home and school settings. Rebecca has been teaching swimming since 2003, to typically developing and special needs children. This inspired her interest in working as a behaviour therapist and pursuing a career in developmental psychology. Rebecca’s main interests are in teaching social and play skills in the school environment, managing anxiety in children with autism and family support programs.

Melinda Kelsey

Consultant Occupational Therapist

Melinda graduated from the University of Western Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy. She has worked in both the private and public sectors for several years. Her experience has been in paediatrics where she worked her way to senior therapist prior to commencing her own private practice. She is an active member of the Australian Association of Occupational Therapists. She has presented a research paper at the National Paediatric Occupational Therapy Conference in Brisbane in 2003. She has also had an abstract accepted into the 2007 National Allied Health Conference in Tasmania.

She has been recognised as a highly successful graduate by the University of Western Sydney who have recently completed an article on her for the UWS graduate profiles.

Tamara Boyle

Consultant Speech Pathologist

Tamara graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Class IIa Honours) and is a current member of the Speech Pathology Association of Australia. Tamara has over 4 years experience working within a multidisciplinary team with children aged 0-school entry diagnosed with an ASD, physical disability and/or developmental delay. Her experience includes delivering early intervention services to children with an ASD, in addition to involvement in a local multidisciplinary assessment team that diagnoses autism and developmental delay.

Employment

At Aspire, one of our goals is to provide the highest quality treatment to our clients. To achieve this we are looking for dedicated people who want to join our team and are looking for ongoing staff training and development, excellent potential for advancement and competitive salaries. We are also open to staff suggestions and ideas.

We are currently looking for one more program manager to join our team and are also looking for dedicated therapists with more than one year experience to be trained as senior therapists.

If you are interested please contact us by sending your CV and your resume to: info@aspireearlyintervention.com

Program Managers

Program Managers work under the direction of the Clinical Director to provide top-quality client service. The Program Manager will be responsible for report writing and programming responsibilities for each client he or she is assigned. Currently we have an opening for a program manager in full time employment, although we would happily accommodate part time employment.

Responsibilities:

Conduct initial and on-going assessments such as FBA’s, and based on these assessments, evaluate, design and maintain top quality treatment programs
Conduct program changes during regularly scheduled team meetings
Learn and implement Aspire’s treatment programs including Verbal Behaviour, Precision Teaching and PRT
Lead and train treatment teams
Set and achieve performance goals with client, parents , and treatment teams
Prepare for and attend client educational meetings (Individual Education Plan meetings, IFSP) and develop treatment recommendations
Conduct school observations and write recommendation reports
Assist with training of staff
Train family members on treatment techniques; maintain positive working relationship with clientsí family; respond to questions in a timely and professional manner

Qualifications:

Minimum of three years experience providing Applied Behaviour Analysis treatment to children with autism, need to have worked with and implemented treatment programs for at least 10-15 children
A minimum Bachelor’s Degree from a university in Psychology, Speech Pathology, Early Childhood Education with a teaching credential, Behaviour Analysis, or related field
Preferred Masters Degree in Special Education, Behaviour Analysis, Speech pathology or Communication Disorders.
Must be prepared to sit for BCABA or BCBA examination within 12-18 months of completing program managers training
Must have completed Aspire Senior Therapist Training Program and pass theoretical and practical components
Demonstrate knowledge of ABA treatment techniques and treatment program designs for children of varying skill levels
Proven people-management skills
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Excellent administrative skills
Key Characteristics: Professional, dedicated to assisting children and their families, organised, creative, motivating, goal-driven

Benefits:

Competitive remuneration based on experience and educational qualifications
Paid training time and office time
Opportunities to work on research and development projects
Opportunities for advancement
Middle East & International travel opportunities
Earned vacation pay for full-time employees
Ongoing training & professional development
Flexible working hours

Therapists

Job Description

Work one on one with children in the home, school, and community
Follow a structured program designed to teach language, play, social, motor, and self-help skills to children with autism or related disorders
Participate in a thorough initial training program with instruction in autism, Applied Behaviour Analysis, verbal behaviour, teaching strategies, behaviour management, data collection, and ethics
Participate in ongoing trainings and attend regularly scheduled team meetings for each client
Work collaboratively and effectively communicate with colleagues, parents, and school personnel

Job Requirements

At least 2 years of undergraduate education in Psychology, Speech pathology, Education, or a related field
Some experience working with typically developing children or children with special needs desirable

Benefits

Ongoing training & professional development
Flexible working hours
Frequent opportunities for wage increase
Excellent opportunities for advancement

Additional Information

To ensure that all therapists meet our high performance standards, trainees need to pass a written examination with open ended questions and a practical evaluation prior to working with clients on their own.
We provide regularly scheduled trainings and workshops throughout employment at Aspire.
Typically, each full-time therapist works with 3-4 different children. Schedules change regularly to meet the needs of our clients; however, we also offer flexible hours to meet the needs of our employees.