Meet shir
Being the oldest child in her family provided the ultimate “training” ground for working with young children. Fast forward to her college years at University of Southern California where Shir discovered her passion for working with people with special needs. Combine these experiences with her volunteering at early intervention preschools, working with at-risk youth, and a fieldwork rotation at a boarding school in Ghana, and you have a seasoned, diverse, compassionate Board Certified Behavior Analyst.
Shir’s journey led her to the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, and although she knows it sounds cliché—it just clicked. Motivated to learn, she grew from a direct interventionist to a clinical director within four years. Along the way, the organization Shir served even created a new position just for her, Staff Support Manager, so she could lead and mentor aspiring BCBAs. As clinical director, she oversaw all the organization’s Spanish speaking families. Her hustle and initiative resulted in her implementing parent education and school consult sessions, developing materials for an Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) program at a local preschool, and giving ABA in-services to a school district’s entire staff of para-educators.
Although she is an ambitious BCBA, she manages to find balance for other passions, like studying foreign languages and learning about new cultures, with an acute focus on speaking Spanish and dancing salsa because, well, Southern California. Oh, and jamming out to rock en español in her car. She has gratitude for her world travel adventures and appreciates diversity, knowing that every country, family unit, and person are unique. This cultural insight and world perspective allow her deeper insight into how everyone learns and grows differently. Of course, this helps when working directly with families, but also as a mentor to go-getting supervisees, as they will provide support to their own clients.
Shir nears a decade in her ABA career working alongside great mentors and teammates who challenged and inspired her, and she is excited to be able to pay it forward to the Evolve community!
QUALIFICATIONs
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
8-Hour Supervision Training Completed: 11/11/2013
Master’s in Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California
Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), Certified Instructor