PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

All of Barbara T. Doyle’s services are delivered in a collaborative manner and are designed to benefit children and adults with disabilities as well as their team: families, schools and service providers. Barbara’s approach is practical, respectful and humanistic. Her focus is on the success of people with ASD and other disabilities across all environments and across their lifetimes. Her “themes” are safety, communication, learning, belonging, participation and contribution.

Techical Assistance

Technical Assistance (TA) is services provided to a school, agency, program, or other entity to assist them in program planning and development, or in understanding and solving current programmatic problems. TA has an impact on program development and systems operation. The outcome of technical assistance activities is an organization that has more information, an improved plan to utilize human resources to deliver better services, and a more effective service delivery system. Technical assistance activities can include observation, discussion, collaborations, presentations to large and small groups, short and long term planning and written reports. Technical assistance to schools, agencies and groups who are providing services to more children and adults with ASD than in the past helps adapt service delivery to the students or clients of today.

Individual Consultation

Individual consultations are activities designed to improve the quality of life and delivery of services to an individual (child or adult) with disabilities. Consultation activities are designed to assess current services, family life needs, and resources. The outcome of an individual consultation is an improved plan for service delivery for the individual in all life areas using creative and imaginative problem solving. Teams become more unified in pursuit of prioritized goals. Consultations reveal an objective perspective derived from direct observation of the individual, preferably in multiple settings. Ms Doyle uses a comprehensive review of records as well as staff and family interviews. After these activities are completed, a full team meeting is held in which specific programmatic suggestions are made and discussed in a framework of mutual respect and blame-free thinking. A written report can be provided following the team meeting. Suggestions from an individual consultation may address the needs of the individual across the lifespan as well as current needs in learning, mental and physical health, communication, socialization, recreation, employment, family life, and behavior.

"Cyber consultations" can be conducted across both time and space using e-mail, document sharing, interactive video teleconferencing, and the telephone.

Ms. Doyle does not charge for initial phone conversations with parents or providers.

Training

Training is an educational activity provided to staff and families to increase understanding about specific subjects, create shifts in attitudes and behavior, develop perspective, improve teaming, learn new skills or improve existing skills. Training is provided to large or small groups. Training is customized to meet the outcome goals of a school, school district, adult services agency, or other entity. Training is offered at all times of the day and evening, weekdays and weekends to reach as many staff and family members as possible. Practical, effective, and ready-to-use strategies are a focus of training, based on the real life needs of trainees. Activities can include lecture, discussion, large and small group “hands-on” experiential activities, and production of materials in print and for internet access. Training topics are customized and chosen based on an assessment of what is most likely to benefit trainees and the organization.

Presentations for Organizations + Key Note Addresses 

Presentations for organizations and key note addresses are activities designed to affect a large group of people in a shorter amount of time. These presentations are lively, funny, candid, sometimes daring, and always entertaining. Presentations reflect the richness of personal life experiences living and working with people with autism spectrum disorders, blindness, deafness, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, cognitive differences, attention issues, learning disabilities, mental health issues, and other special differences for more than 41 years. Cutting edge topics are chosen and unique presentations developed based on conference themes, target audiences and other special requests.

Individual Teaching + Modeling

Individual teaching and modeling activities are designed to improve the skills of a person with disabilities and their staff and/or family. These are direct teaching services to the individual such as teaching the individual to use a communication system, or helping the individual learn how to transition from one place to another. Individual teaching/modeling activities are done with staff or family members present to model instructional or communication strategies that can then be continued by staff and/or family members. These services are usually delivered after technical assistance, training, or an individual consultation is completed.