About Me
Cali McGinn, BCBA, LBA
I am a licensed Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a certified special education teacher. I attended Wheaton College in Massachusetts and received a Master of Arts degree in Education from UCONN with a specialization in special education. In addition, I have a graduate certificate in Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
I have been working with individuals with special needs and their families in CT for over 17 years. I specialize in school consultation, supports for students with ASD and social/emotional disabilities, and ABA therapy.
I taught in an elementary school special education program for 6 years. I then worked as a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) specialist at an elementary school, assisting general education teachers with behavior supports in their classrooms. More recently, I provided program consultation to ABA-based special education programs and social-emotional learning programs at the primary and secondary levels around the state of CT.
Testimonial
"My family began working with Ms. McGinn (Cali) through EmpowerEd Behavioral Systems in early June 2023. But this is not where this story starts. I’ve known Ms. McGinn since my son was in 3rd Grade at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford, CT. During his elementary school years there we got support both educationally and behaviorally.
Later, from 2014-2016, we collaborated privately on my son’s anxiety surrounding our time at our summer beach house. I called upon her when packing for a weekend to go to Old Lyme that resulted in a physical stress reaction in the form of dry heaving. I knew this was out of my league.I needed help to navigate this situation. From teasing out possible reasons for this increased angst, making schedules with my son’s input (which was the key), to packing for the trip, analyzing data and feedback from one weekend to the next to make incremental steps, Ms. McGinn’s guidance made possible a calm, dare I say, enjoyable beach holiday. We still have that house. We seriously thought about selling it multiple times, it was so bad. My son doesn’t love it, but we have progressed to a place where we can go and spend time there as a family.
Fast forward now to junior year at high school. Our son was having a productive year at Hall High School in West Hartford, CT. We just had his PPT in March and we all spoke about how far he had come and made our plans for the last year there. Then Covid came and smashed all our progress and plans! We limped our way through as best we could. When things began to return to “normal” I noticed just how much ground we had lost. I tried to rebuild by myself, but by the end of the school year I realized I needed help.
Coincidentally this was about the same time EmpowerEd was getting off the ground and just in time! Once again we began collaborating to regain skills, confidence, and a willingness to undertake both old and new challenges.
The cliff still races to meet us but there is a hopefulness and a comprehensive plan of action instead of utter dread.
There really are no words in my vocabulary to describe the support she has given our family time and time again…Cali has been an integral part of our village for many years and we are extremely lucky to have her."
Mary Coons
Parent
West Hartford, CT