Stephanie Dille-Huggins, BCBA, CODA

Stephanie Dille-Huggins, a BCBA® and CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult) residing in Indianapolis, Indiana has dedicated her professional career to providing culturally responsive, accessible, and inclusive ABA-based services to Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals living with autism spectrum disorder and their families. Stephanie began as a behavior technician with Cornerstone Autism Center located in Greenwood, Indiana in 2011. She worked diligently during this time to integrate American Sign Language (ASL) to promote accessibility and inclusion for her non-vocal hearing, Deaf, and hard-of-hearing clients. After obtaining her master’s degree from Ball State University in Applied Behavior Analysis and becoming a BCBA in early 2015, Stephanie has pursued the continued integration of access to ASL for Cornerstone staff, as well as guiding treatment for Deaf and hard-of-hearing clients and their families. In her efforts to provide treatment without barriers, Stephanie explored avenues in making the Verbal Behavior and Milestones Assessment and Placement Program® (VB-MAPP®) and the Assessment of Functional Living Skills® (AFLS®) accessible to this population to assist her clients in meeting their therapy goals, which included establishing and developing communication skills and improving their overall quality of life through designing culturally responsive programming. Stephanie is now serving as Director of Clinical Education for Cornerstone and continues to mentor their Deaf and hard-of-hearing program. Stephanie is also the founder of a non-profit organization, Connecting the Spectrum, which is a group of dedicated professionals from the field of ABA and other disciplines that are dedicated to integrating ABA-based services in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community for individuals and families in need. Stephanie continues to work with school administrators, teachers, behavioral consultants, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, and other BCBAs from across the country to work towards providing access to services without barriers for all individuals living on the spectrum & their families. Stephanie remains passionate about continuing to spread awareness surrounding accessibility for this population as she navigates addressing barriers for her own Deaf and autistic family members. Stephanie is eternally grateful for the support she continues to receive from her loving husband, Al, and son, Avery, as well as her peers and mentors within her professional support system.