Caregiver Online Autism Coaching at Home (COACH)

Welcome to the COACH study!

Stanford University and Behavior Change Institute are conducting an exciting new
research study comparing methods of parent coaching to help promote your child's
communication and navigate challenging behaviors.

We are looking for families of children with autism ages 2 years to 7 years 11 months
who live in the counties in New Mexico and Texas represented on the map below.

Enroll Now!

Learn More!

Who Can Participate?

Children with autism who show challenging behavior
Children who are ages 2 years to 7 years, 11 months
Caregivers comfortable speaking and reading in English
Families who live in the counties in New Mexico and Texas represented on the map.

What Does Participation Involve?

Completing behavioral questionnaires
Assessment of your child's behavior
Random assignment to one of three parent coaching groups
Parent coaching in 1-hour weekly sessions over 12 weeks

What Are The Benefits of Participating?

Improved knowledge about why your child is engaging in challenging behavior
Potential decrease in your child's challenging behavior
Potential increase in your child's communication skills

Study Information

Screening will be conducted online and then by phone. If you do not qualify to participate, we will send you a list of autism resources in your area. Participation in this research study is open to individuals with or without health insurance. If you have insurance, the study will pay for any out-of-pocket expenses such as co-pays or deductibles. Screening and recruitment will be conducted in New Mexico and Texas by personnel at Stanford University. Interventions will be conducted by Behavior Change Institute.

If you enroll, you will be coached to conduct a behavioral assessment of your child's challenging behavior to help us understand why your child is engaging in this behavior. You will then be randomly assigned to one of three parent coaching groups and receive weekly 1-hour coaching sessions over 12 consecutive weeks to help promote your child's communication and navigate your child's challenging behaviors.

Please complete the following survey to determine your child's eligibility. If eligible, a study coordinator will contact you to provide more information about the study. Thank you for considering taking part in our study!

For more information please contact us at: coachstudy@stanford.edu

Meet the Coach team!

Scott S. Hall, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, Translational Applied Behavior Analysis Laboratory

Bio

Dr. Hall is the director of the TABA Lab and a board certified behavior analyst. His scholarly research over the past 25 years has focused on understanding autistic symptoms in children with neurogenetic disorders such as fragile X syndrome, Cornelia de Lange syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. Dr. Hall's work seeks to determine how environmental and biological factors affect the development of these behaviors toward the goal of creating patient-specific treatments. He has received research grant funding from NIMH, NICHD, the National Fragile X Foundation, the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, and the Stanford Child Health Research Institute.

Joy Pollard, PhD, BACB-D
Adjunct Faculty

Bio

Dr. Pollard is the Co-founder and CEO of Clinical Operations at Behavior Change Institute. She began her clinical work in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis in 2003 and has supervised multi-state TeleBehavioral Health services since 2011. Her research and clinical work has focused on leveraging technology to increase access, build capacity, and improve the standards of behavioral healthcare for families in rural and underserved communities.

Leslie Quiroz, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Research Coordinator

Bio

Leslie is the Lead Research Clinician and Research Coordinator for the COACH Study. She is a doctoral-level Board-Certified Behavior Analyst with clinical experience in MA, NJ, TX, and NM across home-based, residential, clinic, and school settings. Leslie has served families in New Mexico using telehealth to address assessment and treatment of severe challenging behaviors in children with autism. Her research over the past 10 years has focused on interventions to teach early social skills and address severe challenging behaviors in children with autism. She has received funding from the Sidney W. & Janet R. Bijou Grant for her research on parent-child interactions with this population

Jennifer Boyd, BCBA

Bio

Jennifer Boyd is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) who provides ABA services for families and children impacted by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in New Mexico. Jennifer first began working with children with ASD in 2013 with University of New Mexico's Camp Rising Sun, a specialized overnight camp that aimed to give children with ASD a "regular" camp experience. Since then, Jennifer has worked to provide compassionate care to families and children in a variety of settings including school, clinic, daycare and home. Jennifer is a graduate of Behavior Change Institute's esteemed Clinical Internship Program and received her M.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis at Purdue University. As a researcher and clinician for the COACH study, Jennifer's role is to work directly with caregivers in the many diverse communities of New Mexico.

Research Stakeholder Board

This study is a result of a collaboration with parent stakeholders, clinician stakeholders and payer stakeholders who have helped us every step of the way. Meet our Stakeholder Board below:

Cierra Perea, MSC, BSHS
Caregiver Stakeholder

Bio

Cierra lives in Las Cruces, NM. She has a Masters in Criminology with a Focus on Human Behavior and a Bachelors in Human Services with an AOC in family and child services. She was pursuing her doctoral degree in Forensic Psychology, and received some credits for the past year and a half, but wanted to do more clinical aspects, so she is now exploring new paths. Cierra is a member of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. Cierra has been involved in many pieces of training and certifications with Concept Palo Alto University for continuing education credits as well as attending various webinars to become well-rounded in all realms of forensics, neuro-diversity, trauma-informed care, Alzheimer's/Dementia, and special needs populations. Cierra is a mom of two, one being on the ASD spectrum, and advocates on his behalf as his voice.

Galadriel Currin, BLA
Caregiver Stakeholder

Bio

Galadriel lives in Aztec, NM with her creative, bright, and adaptive 9-year-old boy, who loves track, soccer, anything with a motor or engine, has the most beautiful laugh, and has autism with a secondary diagnosis of generalized developmental delay. Galadriel has a Bachelor's degree with a major in social work and Psychology. She has worked the last 25 years with children and families, from Alaska with an agency that trained and developed jobs in the community for adults with disabilities and children's services to NM as a home visitor/parent educator for prenatal to children aged 3. She currently works as a treatment foster parent liaison/coordinator at Childhaven.

Galadriel joined this board because she recognized that the process to receive a diagnosis and care for a child with autism can be isolating based on her experience waiting for a diagnosis, struggling to find a treatment provider or active local support group in her community, and learning more about autism. Galadriel also understands why some families may not seek ABA therapy and wants to help address any barriers to this very helpful service.

Dale Henneke, PhD
Caregiver Stakeholder

Bio

Dale lives in La Luz, NM with his intelligent 8-year-old autistic son, who receives ABA services via telehealth. Dale feels fortunate to receive direct service and parent training via telehealth due to the scarcity of providers in his area. He would like his experiences in this regard to be helpful to others in a similar situation, in particular as it relates to receiving effective treatment to address challenging behaviors across the home and school settings. Dale’s professional background is on the engineering side in both academia and industry. Dale was previously an Associate Professor, with a history of working in the research industry and skills in mathematical modeling, Matlab, materials science, chemical engineering, and nanomaterials.

Keegan M.
Caregiver Stakeholder

Bio

Keegan lives in Albuquerque, NM with her happy 8-year-old daughter. She is excited to have an opportunity to give back to a program that has positively impacted her family. Keegan has extensive experience advocating for her daughter to receive necessary support across educational settings and working for multiple providers in response to her daughter’s severe challenging behaviors. Keegan wants to share her experiences and potentially help other parents and kids that are in a similar situation. She is also looking forward to hearing and learning from different perspectives and experiences. Keegan wants to gain more insight into the world of ABA. Having a child that’s on the spectrum is challenging and getting the right services seems to be even more challenging. Keegan believes in BCI’s approach to ABA using telehealth, having seen and felt the successful results in her home. Keegan knows the road to getting help for an autistic child or any child that could benefit from ABA is not an easy one. Keegan feels grateful for BCI and wants to give back by joining the board and collaborating with members to enhance BCI, expand services offered, and extend services to more families (including appropriate insurance reimbursement). Potentially helping other parents and kids is the cherry on top.

Mónica Pena
Caregiver Stakeholder

Bio

Mónica lives in Houston, TX. She has a smart 12-year-old son who loves airplanes and is diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome. Mónica is a chemical engineer who has worked in oil and gas for almost 30 years. Her biggest goal is to create a place for her son to feel safe and productive. Mónica has experience with parent-mediated behavioral therapy through a previous research project. She is a big advocate for her son and saw a great benefit in the reduction of challenging behaviors from participating in this project. Mónica believes that everyone who needs therapy should be able to access it. Telehealth therapy may just be the thing that makes it available to more people.

Lorri Unumb, JD
Policy Stakeholder

Bio

Lorri Shealy Unumb is a lawyer, professor, mother of three boys (ages 21, 18, and 14), and an internationally renowned autism advocate. She began her legal career clerking for a United States District Judge in Charleston, South Carolina, and then moved to Washington, D.C. to practice law with the United States Department of Justice.

Following her firstborn son’s diagnosis with autism, Lorri began working in autism advocacy as a volunteer, writing ground-breaking autism insurance legislation for South Carolina (“Ryan’s Law”) that passed in 2007 and served as the catalyst for the national movement toward autism insurance reform. In recognition of Ryan’s Law, Lorri was awarded the Autism Society of America 2008 “Parents of the Year” award (along with her husband Dan). She then was recruited by the New York-based nonprofit Autism Speaks to advocate full- time on behalf of individuals with autism.

Recently, Lorri was appointed by the governor of South Carolina to serve as a Commissioner for the SC Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, which administers several of the state’s Medicaid waivers. In 2019, Lorri assumed the role of CEO of The Council of Autism Service Providers, which is a nonprofit association of for-profit and nonprofit organizations serving people with autism across the lifespan.

Linda LeBlanc, PhD, BCBA-D
Researcher Stakeholder

Bio

Dr. LeBlanc, is a licensed Psychologist and the President of LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting. Her 25-year career has included academic positions at Claremont McKenna College, Western Michigan University, and Auburn University as well as leadership positions in human services organizations. She established LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting in 2017 and consults to technology companies, universities, and behavior analytic human service organizations. Her research interests include behavioral treatment of autism, technology-based behavioral interventions, supervision and mentorship, leadership, and systems development in human services. She is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

Tiffany Hodges, PsyD, BCBA-D
Payer Stakeholder

Bio

Dr. Tiffany Hodges is currently Associate Vice President of Clinical Operations at Optum, a national health insurance organization, and oversees the behavioral outpatient services for applied behavior analysis, intensive outpatient services, and specialty case management services. In her current role, she has been an active part in utilization management services, case management services, improving family supports, provider audits, staff education, and working with employer groups and health plans. Her clinical experience includes working with patients across various settings as both a psychologist and behavior analyst. Tiffany completed her training in psychology, as well as additional work in behavior analysis at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Katherine Wooten, LCSW, BCBA, CCM
Payer Stakeholder

Bio

Katherine Wooten has over two decades of experience in direct clinical services and managed care leadership in the south, northeast and mid-west. Katherine currently serves as senior clinical director for New Directions Behavioral Health, where she oversees the company’s Autism Resource Program. Katherine is responsible for operations management, business development and innovation for a team of behavior analysts, social workers and professional support staff. As a longtime advocate for consumer experience, she enjoys the challenge of creating innovative solutions to the changing needs of autism treatment.

Ruby Mannankara- Cabrera, MS, BCBA, LBA (TX)
Clinician Stakeholder

Bio

Ruby is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and has worked with children and young adults diagnosed with ASD since 2006. She specializes in early intervention, verbal behavior, functional communication, and parent/caregiver training. Additionally, she mentors individuals seeking their board certification and supervises RBTs providing services at Behavior Change Institute. Ruby completed her Masters in Behavior Analysis at Northeastern University and Bachelors degree in Psychology and Religion at Wake Forest University. She is currently a doctoral student at Baylor University researching culturally responsive care in behavior analytic treatment.

Sylvia J Acosta, PhD
Clinician Stakeholder

Bio

Sylvia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Center for Development and Disability (CDD) at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She earned her degree in counseling psychology from Colorado State University. She completed a child clinical psychology internship and fellowship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Dr. Acosta is a bilingual (English and Spanish) licensed psychologist who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Acosta provides bilingual diagnostic assessments for children with neurodevelopmental disabilities. She has experience in various forms of parent training, specifically for autism spectrum disorder. She is the manager of the CDD’s Parent Home Training program and is a certified Project ImPACT provider. As Director of Psychology Training at the CDD, and she provides clinical supervision for psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows. She is also a psychology faculty at the New Mexico LEND program. As a native New Mexican, Dr. Acosta is passionate about serving bilingual and monolingual Spanish-speaking families and providing culturally and linguistically diverse services and training.

How Are We Funded?

This study is being funded by a Clinical Trial Award from the U.S. Department of Defense (Award number: W81XWH2210321)

We welcome you to read more about this study on clinicaltrials.gov (Identifier: NCT05268796).

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