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Aspiring Minds provides advocacy services to students with autism and other developmental disabilities. From attendance to IEP meetings, to classroom observation, to educational assessments, Aspiring Minds caters to all the educational needs of children who are on the autism whether they are in the general education classroom or in a more restrictive setting. Behaviorists on the team do home consultation and deliver ABA services in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) as well as VB (Verbal Behavior).
Aspring Minds is actively involved in the Newark, Jersey City, Point Plesant, Princeton, Neptune, Spotswood, South Amboy, Old Bridge, Bloomfield, Teaneck, Clifton, W. Windsor, Hoboken, Burlington, North Brunswick, Hoboken, and East Hanover school districts.
Marie-France Akinrolabu, Ms. Ed., founder, has over 10 years of experience working directly with children with autism and related developmental disabilities.
She earned a dual associate degree in history and journalism from la Sorbonne, Paris, France and later on graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelors' degree in foreign languages. Her career change came about in 1998 when her godson was diagnosed with autism. Astonished by his school difficulty in meeting his unique needs and to understand the way his brain is wired to learn, she became involved in the field of education. She later received her Master's degree in special education and attended the two year post-graduate certification classes in behavior analysis (ABA) from Rutgers University. She is preparing to sit for the Board Certified Analyst exam upon completion of her 1500 supervised hours working one on one with students with autism according to the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. She also received a post-graduate certificate in autism from Penn State University. She is presently working on her PhD in educational psychology,
She is an active member of Autism NJ (formerly known as COSAC), of Council for Exceptional children (CEC), of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), of the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education (NJCIE) and of the National Council of Parents Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA). She continues to hone her skills through ongoing personal development and keeps up to date with research and new methodologies.
Marie-France has a long standing interest in the educational perspective of treatment options. She focuses on instructional approaches, curricular modifications and program development for students with autism. The Staff at Aspiring Minds works with teachers in developing strategies to promote active learning and maximized achievement for learners with autism. "Understanding how deficits in any of the developmental areas can affect a student's interaction within the natural environment is critical", they explain. "Teachers need to understand how a student with communication deficits, for instance, may resort to non-compliant behaviors to avoid situations in which he knows he is going to have to communicate. Untrained teachers become frustrated, label the students as "unteachable" and whisk them into self-contained classroom where they work below their potential.
Aspiring Minds strongly believes that treatment options for children with autism should be viewed from different perspectives: behavioral, developmental, educational, cognitive and socio-emotional. Many a times these perspectives overlap yet they all target different specific domains.
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