Kathleen Marie Taylor is a licensed and registered occupational therapist. She is also certified as a trainer in the TEACHH program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication related Handicapped Children) and an adjunct faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico. In addition, Kathleen has taken extensive continuing education classes over the past 22 years to further her knowledge and skills in working with persons with developmental disabilities, sensory needs, and autistic spectrum disorders.

Kathleen spent many years working with the public schools of the state of New Mexico, where she provided evaluation and direct pediatric therapy services for children with developmental disabilities and sensory needs. She also developed specialized trainings regarding cultural awareness for Native American communities. She has worked for several years with the University of New Mexico, where she is involved with developing and conducting training in autism and sensory integration curriculum development for teachers, professionals, and paraprofessionals. Kathleen has spoken nationally and internationally in the field of development disabilities, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and autism spectrum disorders.

Since 1992 Kathleen has run her own occupational therapy business that provides consultation, group, and individual therapy. She has continued her work at the University of New Mexico with the Center for Development and Disability Autism Program, where she is now a senior program therapist and provides consultation services statewide, nationally, and internationally to agencies, schools and families for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Kathleen conducted training seminars on autistic spectrum disorders for Firefly in Kazan (September 2010) and Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod (February 2011). A third training is planned for St. Petersburg in April 2012.

Photo: Mo shows Rezeda Hannanova, a special education teacher at April Center in Kazan, how to help one of her students.