Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Latham. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Ms. Courtney Latham grew up in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia called Peachtree City. She lived most of her child and adolescent life there and calls it her home.
She completed her schooling in Tuscaloosa, Alabama attaining a Bachelor in Multiple Abilities in 2012 from the University of Alabama (ROLL TIDE) and then earned her Master’s in Special Education in 2014 from Walden University.
She started her teaching career, in 2012, at a local private school for children with varying exceptionalities. As the year progressed, she realized that she had minimal training and experience working with children who exhibited extreme problem behaviors. This resulted in Courtney going back to school to further her knowledge in behavior management.
After getting married to the love of her life, she quickly packed up all of her belongings and moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Once in Jacksonville, she continued her teaching career at another private school for students with varying exceptionalities. Here, she also observed that teachers and school staff were not trained to deal with intense problem behaviors and decided to begin the coursework to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).
She completed the coursework to become a behavior analyst in 2017 and passed the board exam that same year.
Once she became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, her goal was to educate teachers on different strategies and interventions that they could implement in the classroom to effectively reduce intense problem behaviors. She fell in love with being a BCBA in the school setting, as she was still surrounded by the education aspect she originally got her degree for.
Even though Courtney enjoyed being a BCBA in the public school, she realized that she could utilize her talents and love for behavior analysis outside of the school district more effectively, therefore she was making her dream of opening her own practice come to life. She took the leap and opened her own practice, called Evner Behavior Services. Courtney has always had a dream to open her own practice to share her love for behavior analysis and ensure that all people with disabilities have the opportunity to be productive members of our society.
Courtney enjoys treating all client types, from those that have skill deficits interfering with their daily routines, to clients who exhibit extreme aggression, self-injurious behavior, and property destruction. Her specialty is treating severe behavior by teaching replacement behaviors and functional communication.
Due to working with intense behaviors, she sought to become a Professional Crisis Management Instructor to ensure she utilizes best practices. She also has a passion for the adolescent and young adult population who have special needs. Courtney is certified to treat clients all over the world but chooses to treat clients in her local area, Jacksonville.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Making the choice to open her own practice was a challenge in itself, due to the love Courtney has for education and behavior analysis. What made her open her own practice was the limited amount of time available to really focus on each student’s behavioral needs.
As a school-based BCBA, Courtney was supporting over 14 classrooms, with each classroom containing up to nine students. Now, with that being said, not all students in each classroom needed specific behavior analytic support. However, each classroom did need behavior management pointers here and there.
So, on top of behavior management strategies for each classroom, Courtney had 15 Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Intervention Plans that were in place for students. This posed a huge challenge for Courtney as this size of a caseload made it difficult to ensure the success and fidelity of implementation.
This is one of the reasons why Courtney decided to open her own practice where she could focus on each individual child and their family to meet them where they are and ensure the success of each treatment plan. Another struggle that Courtney has faced is utilizing insurance providers whether that is becoming a credentialed in-network provider or working with them to get what the client needs.
In the state of Florida, there has been significant malpractice in the behavior analytic profession. This has caused it to be extremely difficult to become an in-network provider for all major insurances, as it may take 6 months or longer for approval. This delay causes parents to have to pay out of pocket for services and then get reimbursed by their insurance provider.
This poses a problem to most families because Applied Behavior Analytic (ABA) services are expensive and on top of all other household expenses they can’t afford them. Thankfully, Courtney has learned ways to help families get the ABA services they need and is willing to go above and beyond to learn the ins and outs of it all.
Courtney learned early on that each family is different in its needs and wants. They are the experts themselves on knowing what is best for their families and children. Ensuring the family knows that you care for them and are on their side, can make break a professional relationship.
Showing them that the person in front of them is reliable and understanding is an essential part of having a successful practice.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Courtney experienced many unique challenges in the public school setting, with one experience standing out. Here is a brief summary of a case study Courtney conducted and is in the process of getting published. While in the public school sector, Courtney conducted a case study on a student in the 7th grade who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The student was non-verbal and used alternative means to communicate such as core board and visuals. This particular student displayed extreme problem behavior in the form of vomiting and spitting on purpose to gain the attention of classroom staff and students. Not only did this student vomit on purpose, but the student would also play and sling it towards staff and on objects in close proximity.
With the support of the administration, and support staff (SLP, OT, site coach, and classroom teacher), Courtney was able to implement a Behavior Intervention plan. Using this interdisciplinary approach, researching best practices, obtaining parent permission, and ensuring the classroom teacher and support staff were on board, the intervention plan was put into place.
The student ended up being very successful as the interventions used brought the behavior to 0 occurrences of vomiting at staff or students and only spitting in trashcans if needed. This case study is something that Courtney is proud of and continues to pursue getting published. Now about Evner Behavior Services.
Courtney opened Evner Behavior Services in January of 2021. This has been a blessing for her as she has been able to ensure client and family success. People always ask, where did Evner come from, and Courtney is always proud to say that it is her two sons’ names put together, Everett and Gunner. This puts a smile on all faces and gives them a sense of family.
Evner Behavior Services serves clients in Jacksonville and surrounding areas. It is made up of highly skilled professionals who deeply value the well-being of their clients. They take great pride in providing the community with high-quality, client-centered behavior services, as well as family education and Professional Crisis Management training.
Evner specializes in producing individualized programs to meet the unique needs of each client, utilizing evidence-based practices that have been researched and proven to be successful. They are driven by the data taken, ensuring each program is successful. At Evner Behavior Services, Courtney and her team strive to develop and maintain the skills needed to be a productive member of society, as well as maximize the quality of life for the client and family.
Utilizing the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, Evner Behavior Services creates meaningful changes in each client’s life. Evner’s team believes that children learn best in functional, natural settings. Problematic behaviors not only affect the child but every member of the family. These services follow a best practice model involving individualized behavior assessment, increasing socially appropriate behavior, skill acquisition, and providing parent and family training.
They will work with families to identify interfering behaviors and discover ways to increase motivation to ensure skill development. Staff will assess the client’s current skill levels and will then determine how to enhance them to foster new social, communication, life skills, and replacement behaviors. The staff at Evner Behavior Services have vast experience creating and utilizing interventions for severe aggressive and self-injurious behaviors.
They are trained to assist with various forms of AAC devices and implement new ways to increase functional communication in a number of settings. Staff at Evner Behavior Services are known for applying modern ABA strategies such as providing a choice model, and teaching escape bands such as “I don’t want to” or “my way.” These few strategies minimize the escalation of dangerous problem behavior.
More information on these different models can be viewed on Greg Hanley and Theresa Fiani’s website https://practicalfunctionalassessment.com/publications-2/. Courtney and her staff know that having an autistic child can be scary and overwhelming at times but they want you to know that they are available to support you and your family however they can.
You can visit their website here for more information or find contact information. https://evnerbehaviorservices.com/.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.evnerbehaviorservices.com
- Instagram: @evnerbehaviorservices
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evnerbehaviorservices
