Branches of Hope, Inc.

The expertise to maximize your child’s potential…

                               the heart to provide  personalized attention and care.

Dr. John Burke has over 30 years of experience working with children, youth, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders, their families and professionals across the fields of education, mental health, vocational rehabilitation, and others. He also has extensive experience with children with Downs Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injury, and complex learning disorders. He has served on the Faculty at Johns Hopkins University and directed inpatient, outpatient, and community programs at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Recently he served as the Director of the Autism Training Center in Kentucky.

 

Dr. Burke has been published in many journals, is currently preparing a new book on Advanced Behavioral Assessments of Learning his second and third book on the topics of promoting interactive language skills and academic inclusion, and is a lead on an international collaborative effort to use the world wide web to distribute information and training to parents and professionals.

 

Dr. Burke earned degrees and credentials in Psychology, Education, and Speech Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He obtained a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences through a joint program with UC Santa Barbara and the UC San Francisco Medical School. Subsequently he was invited to Johns Hopkins University to participate in a Fellowship in Behavioral Psychology and Pediatrics.

 

Dr. Burke has been extensively involved in several major research and training projects pertaining to autism funded by various government agencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Mental Health). He has taught several courses pertaining to understanding and educating students with autism and implementing effective technology-based behavioral and instructional supports. He was awarded Collaborator of the Year by KDE and has presented at international United Nations Summit meetings and conferences.He has worked with Local and State Educational Agencies in planning, implementing, and evaluating major collaborative training programs pertaining to preparing teams of professionals and parents to work with students with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. Dr. Burke has also provided direct consultation and training to parents and professionals with particular specialties in: developing educational supports for academic inclusion; promoting communication and social skills; increasing self-help skills such as toileting; transitioning youth with ASD into meaningful employment; conducting functional behavioral and ecological assessments; and decreasing disruptive behaviors through positive behavioral supports.

 

Dr. Burke emphasizes the need to develop programs that are based on both the individual learning profile and unique display of the characteristics associated with their diagnostic category. Building upon his 30 years of working with 1000’s of children in clinical, research, and training programs, Branches of Hope has a proven process to delineate major factors influencing learning in a child.

 

 

 

 

Ms. Janie Dyment-Burke has over 15 years of experience working with children with autism and other similar challenges. She has a BA degree from Franklin and Marshall College, and received two Masters Degrees with Honors one from Fairfield University in Education and the second from Johns Hopkins University in Special Education with a concentration in Autism. Combining her professional degrees and training with her own personal experiences with family members, Ms. Burke brings knowledge, dedication, and a clear understanding of the importance of having children achieve their full potential.

 

While serving as a lead teacher and a national consultant Ms. Burke has developed, implemented, and trained others in a variety of effective strategies including those based on Applied Behavior Analysis, DIR/Floortime, Direct Social Skills Training, and Natural Language Models. She has successfully integrated behavioral and sensory supports as well as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems. Ms. Burke's work within homes and other community settings has mirrored her efforts in schools. Ms. Burke has presented numerous workshops and has begun to work on an international collaborative effort to promote autism awareness. She has co-authored two chapters pertaining to autism on the topics of Conducting Behavioral and Traditional Assessments. Currently, she is producing a series of books designed for helping children with autism and other communication disabilities to use interactive communication and social skills in inclusive educational settings.

 

Child * Family * Community

Ms. Nicole Grabell has been working as a direct interventionist at Branches of Hope, Inc since 2008.  Ms. Grabell specializes in providing supports within inclusive educational programs for children who may need some extra guidance in social or academic activities. She has received specialized training in the development and implementation of positive behavioral supports as well as strategies for promoting gains in pivotal areas of need related to communication, social interactions, attention, and sensory based supports.

 

She received her Bachelors in Psychology from Manhattan College, graduating Summa Cum Laude.  She has been a member of national honor society Phi Beta Kappa since 2007.  Nicole worked with Dr. Martha Mendez-Baldwin on her research of bullying and presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Boston in 2008.  Currently she is pursuing her Masters in Community Counseling from Fairfield University.

Jim Kleefield is an award winning News Anchor who has spent a life time perfecting his craft. His more than 20 year career has taken him to several radio stations in the New York Metro Area. Jim has been heard on WEBE-FM and WICC-AM in Bridgeport, Connecticut, WFAS-AM and FM in Westchester, New York, 98Q -FM and WLAD-AM in Danbury, CT and WGCH-AM in Greenwich, CT. Jim has also made appearances for News 12 Westchester.

 

Mr. Kleefield is a graduate of Muskingum College with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications. Aside from formal training and years of experience, Jim has a warm and professional style and a strong commitment to disseminating information that will help families and communities coping with the demands of raising children with special needs. 

 

 

Mr. David Bennett is a certified teacher with a  Bachelors of Science Degree from Southern Connecticut State University and a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Bridgeport. Mr. Bennett has 4 years of experience working with children with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders.  During this time, he has developed programs within educational, home, and community settings. He has specific training and experience in establishing and implementing programs that support the inclusion of children with special needs. Through his efforts, children have been successfully integrated from preschool to elementary.

 

Aside from his work with implementing specialized programs for promoting inclusion, Mr. Bennett brings the love and knowledge of music into his efforts of helping children.  He played an essential part in the inception of an after school music and movement program, involving an inclusion class for the enrichment of students’ social skills through musical and theatrical instruction. Mr. Bennett also teaches music enrichment (education) to children with special needs.