Hi, my name is Erin McKay and I am the Director of Applied Behavioral Consulting (ABC). I wanted to give you a little information on my background and how ABC came to fruition.
I originally started working at Hannaford Bakery in New Hampshire as a cake decorator. I learned that one of my coworkers there had special needs and used sign language as her primary mode of communication. I noticed during her break times that she was by herself often - so I wrote on a piece of paper and introduced myself. Over time, she taught me sign language and I was able to bridge communication between her and I. From there, I was able to support her in communicating with other coworkers as well as help her understand her expectations at work easier. I quickly found that it wasn’t cake decorating that I was enjoying, but helping my friend navigate her world and develop relationships.
From there I pursued a degree in Human Development and started working at a private school in Billerica, Massachusetts, as a Registered Behavior Technician working with a functional life skills program with high school students. Here, we focused a lot on community outings, and how to best teach new skills to our students that would prepare them for jobs in the community or adult care programs.
I then took on a substance abuse/behavior specialist position working in a social emotional program for struggling teens in middle school. Through these achievements, I fell in love and moved to Lisbon Maine with my now husband, where I began working as a teacher in an early intervention program for preschoolers while pursuing my Masters Degree and Board Certification in Behavior Analysis. I am so thankful for this role, because it allowed me to step into the teachers shoes which has helped me tremendously as a now BCBA when guiding teachers on how to teach significantly challenging students/classrooms new behaviors and/or academics.
I began working at a school district as a BCBA to guide programming for students in both a functional life skills program and a program that was a 1:1 staff to student ratio due to the significant needs. This model focused on training case managers and special education teachers and training their support staff. This training often included on-the-floor coaching and modeling which meant I was working with the student directly. I also provided didactic training for up to 100 people. From there, I developed my company Applied Behavioral Consulting and began serving many school districts and parents to help bridge the gap between school, community, and home. I pride myself on running a company that is personable, ethical, compassionate, effective and enthusiastic. It’s truly been such a blessing to teach so many individuals about this field of work and to make significant differences in children, families, and schools.
