Tonya Evans received her Bachelors Degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology at Georgia State University. She received a Masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education with an emphasis in Autism from University of Washington as well as completed class and experience hours to acquire her Board Certified Behavior Analyst certification in 2007.
While at Georgia State University, she worked in the child development lab assisting in observational research on children with and without special needs. She assisted in developing a systematic coding system and establishing reliability on a study of the connection between language and literacy and a study of people versus object orientation with young children with autism.
While obtaining her undergraduate degree and after graduation in Atlanta, she worked as an ABA in-home therapist for many private family residences.
In January 2002, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to work as an educational autism consultant at TRIAD (Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. During her time at TRIAD she:
conducted autism trainings and consultations to professionals and parents through a contract with the Tennessee Department of Education division of special education
assisted in developing an early intervention birth to 3 training protocol including developing educational materials used for state-wide trainings and workshops
implemented in-home, clinic-based, and social skills intervention to children with autism using methods of best practices from Educating Children with Autism,
provided classroom consultations in the Tennessee public school systems grades preschool through 5th grade
After moving to Seattle, Tonya worked at Phantom Lake Integrated Preschool as the manager of the extended day autism program. As the extended day manger, she:
trained, managed, and collaborated with a team of paraprofessionals to provide small group instruction in an individualized setting
designed programs and monitored data and progress
established individualized strategies to address deficit skills and challenging behavior
collaborated with classroom teachers, multidisciplinary team, and program coordinator to increase generalization for students
wrote and implemented IEP documents
conducted trainings to special education staff including ABA, PECS, and PBS
Recently, Tonya has started a private early intervention service in which she plays the role of educational director, consultant, parent or professional trainer, service provider, and parent advocate. Her responsibilities at Connections Educational and Behavioral Services include:
designing and directing educational, behavioral, and administrative responsibilities for children with autism and social delays
facilitating social groups to teach and generalize community, leisure, and peer skills
training and monitoring staff
implementing specialized instruction for students
conducting ongoing consultation services to parents or school staff
providing support and advocacy services to parents during IFSP/IEP or educational meetings