Executive Committee

 

President: Stephen Wood, BCBA, LBA

Stephen J Wood, BCBA, LBA is a Board Certified and Licensed Behavior Analyst residing in Lexington, KY. Stephen is a graduate of Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. Stephen initially practiced as a BCaBA from 2003-2008, prior to obtaining his BCBA certification in 2008. Stephen served on the Kentucky ABA Licensure Board for 6 years, he is an active member of the ABA Advocates group, and currently serves as a board member with the Child Development Center of the Bluegrass. Over the past 16 years, Stephen has developed and supervised ABA programs for hundreds of individuals with Autism ranging from ages 2-25 within clinic, home, school, and community based settings. Stephen’s primary practice interests include intensive early intervention, severe problem behavior reduction, and collaboration within school settings. Stephen is currently the Director of Special Projects for Cultivate Behavior Management Corp where he enjoys responsibilities to promote a positive employee culture and the mission of providing the highest quality of clinical care.  In his spare time, Stephen enjoys travel, gardening, spending time with his partner Jeremy and their 3 Boxer dogs. 

 

 

​Past President: Luna Weiss-Salinas, M.A., BCBA, LBA

Luna Weiss-Salinas is the co-owner and founder of Excel ABA in Richmond, Kentucky. Since establishing a location for center-based services in 2016, she has focused on increasing access of applied behavior analytic services to children and families in an underserved area of the state. Her practice is grounded in evidence-based early childhood coaching principles that utilize adult-learning strategies to support positive parent-child interactions for families.  In addition, regular collaboration with related disciplines such as Occupational Therapists and Speech Pathologists broadens the overlay of a comprehensive approach to client care.  She completed her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Psychology at Eastern Kentucky University and earned her M.A. degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Spalding University in 2011. Luna has served clients of all ages and developmental disabilities providing home-based services, private clinic services, and public school consultation. She has also devoted much of her time and professional experience training and supervising students pursuing BCaBA and BCBA certification through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Bilingual in English and Spanish, Luna has also extended services to clients who speak Spanish. Luna is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA) in the state of Kentucky.

 

President-Elect: Missie Fee-Diaz, BCBA

Missie Fee-Diaz currently works as a BCBA for Fayette County Public Schools with the preschool population and the Structured Teaching Program. She has over 18 years of experience in the field providing services in a variety of settings including school, home, center-based, and the community. Missie has 10 years of experience providing center-based services to children at Partners in Excellence (MN), i-ABA (IN), and Bluegrass Center for Autism (KY) across various roles from Lead Behavior Therapist to Assistant Clinical Director. Missie is an adjunct professor for Simmons University in the online MS in Applied Behavior Analysis program and has been a supervisor for individuals seeking their BCBA certificate since 2012. Missie earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Louisville in 2002 and an MA in Applied Behavior Analysis from Spalding in 2011. She is currently working to complete her dissertation for a PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis through the Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TSCPP), where she also serves as the editor for the newsletter, a peer mentor, and has previously served on the student representative board. Her focus of study is Acceptance and Commitment Training to reduce burnout with Teachers, BST, and stimulus equivalence.

 

Representative: R. Allan Allday, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA

R. Allan Allday is an Associate Professor in the Department of Early Childhood, Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling at the University of Kentucky (UK). He is also the Founding Program Director of the Applied Behavior Analysis program at UK. Dr. Allday has been serving on the Kentucky Applied Behavior Analysis Licensing Board since 2014. Prior to completing his Ph.D. at Auburn University in 2004, Dr. Allday served as a special education teacher to students with emotional/behavioral disorders and as a behavioral consultant. He served in 2008 and 2010 as a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine, where he provided instruction on ABA and consultation on how to work with children and youth with disabilities who engaged in challenging behavior. Dr. Allday’s professional focus is working to improve outcomes of children and youth who exhibit behaviors that interfere with their social functioning. He provides consultation, using principles of ABA, to schools and families to support their work with a child exhibiting challenging behaviors. Dr. Allday’s research focuses on how adult behavior affects child behavior and finding simple changes to adult behavior that improves a child’s outcomes. He teaches courses related to ABA and behavioral consultation. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, three sons, and daughter.

 

 

Representative: Jessika Vance-Morgan, BCBA, LBA

Jessika Vance-Morgan is a Licensed and Board Certified Behavior Analyst with 12 years of experience in the community, home, clinic, psychiatric, and educational settings. With an MS from Eastern Kentucky University in Clinical Psychology, Vance-Morgan went on to the Florida Institute of Technology to receive training in behavior analysis. She currently serves as a Clinical Supervisor for the agency Clinical Behavior Analysis and operates a small private practice that provides private pay services to adolescents and adults using the contextual behavior science model. Of most passion is the focus on developing client-centered, consented, and focused interventions after implementation of ethical functional analyses. Vance-Morgan is interested in systemic development, coaching, and mentorship of other clinicians, providing clinical presentations and seminars, teaching and challenging ethical assertions, assessment of severe problem behavior, and the implementation of contextual behavior science through acceptance and commitment training. 

 

 

 

Representative: Tammy Hammond-Natof, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA

Dr. Hammond-Natof is a Licensed Psychologist and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in Kentucky, with a private practice in Lexington since 2011. She completed her undergraduate degree at Transylvania University and earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the State University of New York in Binghamton. Dr. Hammond-Natof is past chair of the Kentucky Applied Behavior Analyst Licensing Board. She is currently board chair for the Kentucky Chapter of Erin’s Hope for Friends, a nonprofit that provides a safe and supportive place for youth with ASD to meet and make lasting friendships. She is grateful to be serving KYABA for a second term.

 

 

 

 

Student Representative: Amanda Chavez, B.S. in Education

Amanda Chavez graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2019 with a B.S. in Education and is a certified P-12 special education teacher for students with learning and behavior disorders and moderate and severe disabilities. After completing her undergraduate career, Amanda began the Applied Behavior Analysis master’s program at the University of Kentucky. She is currently entering her last semester and will graduate and sit for her boards in May of 2021. Amanda has over 9 years of experience working with individuals of various ages and abilities. She is most interested in providing behavioral consultative services in school systems to decrease the rate of paraeducator, general education teacher, and special education teacher burnout, promote positive teacher-student interactions, and create classroom environments that are conducive to learning.