OUR TEAM

Barbara is a founding member of the Grace Foundation of NY and is an active member of its board of Directors. She has chaired many fundraising events and committees including three National Conferences on Staten Island as well as two “Technology and ASD” conferences through the Family Support Advisory Committee. In 2003, she helped create a Special Education Program called “The Children’s Room” which was housed at the Staten Island Montessori School on the South Shore. She also created “GRACE UNIVERSITY” which was a series of informative seminars on various topics pertaining to individuals on the autism spectrum. 

Barbara is responsible for introducing the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) to Staten Island after she and her son Nicholas visited Texas to learn the method. Barbara was trained and came back on a mission to help inform others to learn how to spell to communicate and find their voice. She believes strongly that we all must presume competence and change our current perception of people on the Autism Spectrum. She has recently co-founded the non-profit Crimson Rise and is a member of the Crimson Rise Alliance of Spelling to Communicate Practitioners. She is a certified S2C practitioner and member of I-ASC ( International Association of Spelling to Communicate). She helped launch a new Day Habilitation program at The GRACE foundation for Spellers called “The Studio at GRACE”. 

Barbara and her son Nicholas are also public speakers who inspire many with their unique presentations and inspiring message. She wants everyone to find “their voice.” She and her son Nicholas have presented at all of the Staten Island Colleges/Universities, PTA’s, the NYPD as well as staff trainings for individuals working with the Autism population. They also have addressed many groups such as Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus and the SI Rotary, NYC DOE Staff Development trainings as well as  agencies serving the autism population.

Barbara continues to inspire many with the message that non-speaking does not mean non-thinking! It is her passion to bring information and knowledge to parents to help with the challenging road of raising children with ASD.

She has been married to her husband Billy, since 1995. She is the mother of Nicholas age 24, Christian age 19 and Natalie age 18