Submitted by: Stacey Francesconi, BCBA

There are big things happening for Reaching Milestones in 2017! Already an established agency in the Southern Region (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina), Reaching Milestones strives to bring high quality ABA services to families in need. In the new year we are broadening our services to cover a new region: New York! New York state is a mandated insurance coverage state but with a lack of providers in the Upstate Region quality services are hard to come by. The following is the process that lead to the Capital Region getting its very own Reaching Milestones clinic!

My name is Stacey and I joined the Reaching Milestones team in 2012. I am a certified Special Education teacher who needed a change of pace. Once joining the team as a behavior technician I was hooked on ABA. I worked my way up to lead behavior technician, BCaBA, BCBA, and supervising BCBA in my 3 years at the Richmond Hill Georgia clinic. This was the best time of my life but I wanted to move back to my home state of New York to be with family. Once arriving home I realized the immense shortage of clinics who were like Reaching Milestones. Who am I kidding I was shocked at the lack of ABA in this area all around! I showed a need, met with lots of influential people, and proposed an offer to the leaders at Reaching Milestones. I was unsure if they’d be willing to expand that far or to give me a chance. After reviewing my hard work and the NEED in this area they decided it was time for Reaching Milestones to give these families in need the high-quality services they both needed and deserved. Now it was my time to make it happen!

We have had a lot of help along the way from doctors, families, other practitioners, and others in the field. Dr. Bentley from Developmental Pediatrics in Latham has been instrumental in getting our mission statement out to parents and believing in our contiguity of services. Janine Kruiswijk and the Autism Society of the Greater Capital Region have let us host parent trainings on toilet training and food acceptance. They have welcomed us to many of their events where we could spread the word on ABA. The amazing ladies at ABC Nursery School in Clifton Park have been the most welcoming and open hosts as we await our own building. They have let us use space to see a small amount of kids while we develop a client base and determine the perfect building space for our own clinic. There have been many others on the journey, too many to name, and we thank them all!

At this point we are credentialed with multiple insurance agencies, have a small group of clients, and have been hosting workshops and events. The future holds our own building with what I know will be an amazing staff. The process has been tough, and the hardest parts might not be over for me but in the end I know it will be worth it to help the families that need it right here in my hometown. I am so thankful for all who have helped and cannot wait for the next leg of this journey! Stay tuned on the Reaching Milestones Facebook page to see what NY is doing and feel free to contact me if you’re in the area and would like to be a part of this amazing journey.

Let’s do this NY!