Rebecca R. Timmins, M.S.
Rebecca R. Timmins is the founder and director of Celebrate Neurodiversity! Autism Child Care. She graduated with a Master of Science in cognitive and affective psychology from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 2019. During her time at UWO, she served as a research assistant on three different research teams. As a graduate student, she served as lab supervisor to Dr. Hong’s clinical research team which worked largely on studies of mindfulness and entitlement. Rebecca’s thesis used EEG to examine the relationship between autistic traits in a neurotypical population and mirror neuron integrity. She has formal, advanced education in the neuropsychological underpinnings of ASD, along with one year experience as an ABA line technician. She holds certifications in all state-required trainings of child care workers such as CPR and AED, mandated reporter and shaken baby training completion.
“As an undergrad, I was fortunate enough to take a capstone course under my research mentor called “The Neuropsychology of Autism”, and it inspired me to become a behavioral line technician with kids on the spectrum. I enjoyed my time at the Appleton ABA center and fell in love with working with kids with autism… but with my cognitive and neuroscience background, there were some parts of behaviorism I disagreed with (such as how often it does not take into account neurological, cognitive, or emotional perspectives). Overall I view ABA as helpful, but I am excited to be able to incorporate cognitive natural stress reduction activities such as mindfulness training, yoga, biofeedback, music and the arts as a complimentary and new approach to child care for kids on the spectrum which is aimed to put tools in their hands for a lifetime that can be used to help shield against the psychological and physiological harm of stress and anxiety.”
“My goal in creating this center is to provide a revolutionary, holistic approach to child care for kids with autism and to encourage each individual’s strengths while minimizing weaknesses. I do not hold the disease view of autism spectrum and it is my solemn belief that every child with autism can excel in the areas they are most interested in. I am incredibly open-minded and always willing to learn new things, take advice and criticism, and most importantly grow! I feel privileged to be starting this endeavor with my assistant director and autism consultant Kaitlyn who can provide invaluable insight into developing the best strategies for our center, such as giving an inside perspective which only those on the spectrum can truly understand.”
Kaitlyn Zierk
“Hello! My name is Kaitlyn Zierk, I am the assistant director at Celebrate Neurodiversity. I love working with kids and I love teaching them, but not only that. I love to learn from them! I have always found that children are some of the most genuine and brilliant little people in the world. They truly are such a valuable piece of society, no matter where they come from or where they have been or will go. They are, and will always be, inspirations to us all.”
“With that said, I’d like to share just a little bit about who I am. To start things off, you may find it interesting that I am actually diagnosed with Asperger’s! However, just because I am “on the spectrum” I definitely don’t let that define who I am or stop me from succeeding. It has always been a dream of mine to help others diagnosed just as I was and to be able to give them the hope of success that society and media often tries to take away. I’ve always told people, “who is better suited to help than someone who has lived it.” Meaning, I have lived my entire life with Asperger’s, and everything worked out great! There is no reason to think your children will experience anything different.”
“In addition, I would like to share just a snippet of my successes as someone with Asperger’s. I am a certified Personal Trainer and successful Yoga Instructor. I absolutely love weightlifting and practicing/teaching Yoga. I have had the privilege of teaching Yoga to many diverse groups of awesome people ranging from children to adults, and even elderly. Despite my young age at the time (20), I met and fell in love with my now husband Mike.”
“Apart from the business of life, I like to take a step back and put things into perspective through meditative Yoga. I try to live by the saying ‘Rome was not built in a day.’ because we as humans are always building upon ourselves, learning and growing. As you can see, with a little time and patience, we will all thrive!”
