Who is Suzie?

“Suzie Weschler knows all the resources available to families with a neurodiverse/Autistic child.  Even better, she knows the language these agencies use and will help you to craft applications and personalized plans to optimize delivery of services for your child. ”

JW - Parent of 17 year old neurodiverse senior high school student applying for support services

I’m the founder of Weschler Consulting, home of A Path Forward and Integrative Behavior Services. I have been in the field of special needs support in one way or another for over 30 years. I‘ve worked as a regional center (California’s DD medicaid waiver program) service coordinator, as a Child Welfare Worker with foster kids, as a Behavior Analyst with Special needs transition aged youth and young adults, and as a resource parent with my local school district’s special education program.

I’m a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Certified Behavior Analyst, a certified school counselor, and… most importantly I have raised and guided an ASD 2E child into successful “college student’ing” and “adult’ing”. In addition, my other child received a late onset 2E diagnosis, providing me with further experience in support for young adults.

Accessing services and supports for my autistic child was a lot of hard work – navigating special education, medical insurance, the regional center, Department of Rehab, ABA, SSI, etc…etc….etc…... Through it all I was struck by the reality that if I had not had so much professional experience (and tenacity) it may not have turned out as successful as it has.

What do folks do when they don’t have 30 years of experience advocating for children, youth and young adults - when they don’t know what’s available or possible, don’t know how to assess what’s needed, don’t know the rules of the game (and those rules change depending on the agency or system), don’t know how to target and word requests that result in success, don’t know how to stratigically work with teams of professionals effectively, don’t know how to layer services so the positive impact becomes more than a sum of their parts, don’t have the skills or disposition to tangle horns with those in the “authority” positions, and don’t know the secret passwords and phrases to gain access to the services their kids so desperately need to succeed?

My support of you and your child’s path to success is personal. I’m here for you the way I needed someone while I walked the path: As a collaborative, compassionate expert in the complexities of special needs families, pragmatically equipping you to transform struggles into thriving, connected, supported growth.