Tyler Villamil, School Psychologist, Honolulu, HI

“Although our daughter is not diagnosed with autism, she is severely delayed in her ability to communicate with us. My wife and I were frustrated and desperate to find a way to help our daughter and give her a voice.

I attended Tom’s lecture three years ago and came home very excited and hopeful that we could use what I learned to teach her some words. Tom’s teaching style using videos was a perfect way to explain the very complicated principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. Of the many things that I came away with from that short training, the idea of becoming “The Chocolate Chip Cookie” to my daughter, someone that she would be excited to be around, stuck with me.

Since attending that first session, I have gone to see him four more times and once with my wife. She was also blown away by how Tom presented children who initially did not speak or communicate in any way, who later were children who used sign language to get what they wanted.

Recently we were very lucky to have Tom and Jennifer come into our home and work with our little Clover.  We were close to tears when she was able to use sign language for the very first time to request activities and objects.  The smile on her face when she was able to get what she wanted was priceless. We believe that using these principles and procedures to teach her important and necessary skills will be the beginning of a new life for Clover. We feel truly blessed to have Tom and his training.

After Tom’s home visit, I approached Clover’s principal and her special education teacher about the possibility of implementing these research-based procedures at school. When they saw a video of Clover requesting items, they too were very impressed, especially since she did not demonstrate that level of engagement in school. Clover’s teacher is willing to receive training and also felt that this type of information would be beneficial for all of her non-verbal students.”

Tyler Villamil
School Psychologist
Honolulu, HI