Rachel Rodriguez is the School Director of Florida Children’s Academy, Inc. located in Orlando, Florida. She is a passionate advocate for children’s issues and works avidly on advocating for special needs children’s rights in the State of Florida. Rachel Rodriguez currently holds a Master’s in Public Administration, an ESE Teaching Degree, a Florida Director’s Credential and recently completed her second Masters in Applied Behavioral Science to soon become a BCBA (Board Certified Behavioral Analyst). She has worked as a Private School Director for 12 years. Mrs. Rodriguez has a strong desire to continue developing behavioral plans that address the educational needs of children on the Autism Spectrum by teaching and applying ABA in the educational setting. She assists families with their child’s IEP, Behavioral Intervention Plans, State required developmental assessments and help with them soliciting Florida Educational School Choice Scholarships.

Mrs. Rodriguez is a mother of two children and has been a teacher to children from birth to middle school-age gaining the experience to qualify her to be a successful leader in her church community. She has been the Assistant Director in IDDPMI and works in Children’s Ministry for over 18 years, every other Sunday in her current local church “City of Life”. She has also travelled extensively outside of her community to assist other missions’ relief programs and training missionary workers in the following countries: Africa (Kenya & Uganda), Thailand, China, India, Peru, Ecuador, and Dominican Republic. Mrs. Rodriguez even developed a curriculum program that educates local children on culture and missions outreach called “Aventura Misionera or Adventure in Missions”. This one-day event shares over 20 countries in an all-inclusive local church setting for children ages 2-18 the gospel as presented through games, theater, outdoor play, and hands-on sensory activities. A fun fact about Mrs. Rodriguez is that she is a Rescue Diver and enjoys scuba diving in many of the countries she has visited.

Mrs. Rodriguez has made it her personal mission to be a trainer for other educators in teaching the advantages of an inclusive environment to our special needs children in these countries as well teaching them to be an advocate for children’s rights in their own community.

The Office Administrator at Florida Children’s Academy will facilitate documentation to each parent and work with each parent to complete the registration process in our program. The office administrator will maintain open communication lines with both parents and other school staff to assure that all program rules are followed. The office administrator is the personnel representative of our school and will attend all team meetings and will schedule as well as, inform all parties about any parent meetings, school events, and schedule county IEP meetings to assure participation by all parties.

As a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) at Florida Children’s Academy, the following job responsibilities require our staff to work consistently as part of a team to ensure that students receive the highest quality education. The RBT will follow daily schedules as directed for each students BIP plan identified through ABA assessments. Collect data throughout each student’s session in a timely and efficient manner; graphing within specified timeframes to assure feedback on child’s progress. The RBT will write daily progress report to be tracked and presented to Center Director and BCBA weekly. The RBT will be available to students’ basic needs and follow through with specific student training needs. They will assure that the student has the necessary classroom materials for completing their individual goals.

As a Lead Teacher at Florida Children’s Academy, we encourage our staff to work consistently as part of a team to ensure that students receive the highest quality education. We hire staff that have the capability to read, review and implement individualized ABA programs and IEP’s for each student. The Lead teacher will follow specific classroom protocol for the daily student activity and create monthly lesson plan from the given curriculum to implement with each student. We require our staff to commit to the training and understanding of the curriculum guidelines as well as be up to date with any new trainings and ABA paradigms.

As a BCBA at Florida Children’s Academy, they provide introductory and ongoing training programs that provide teacher lead instructions in ABA school setting. The BCBA will shadow the student in the inclusive setting and facilitate learning experiences within the guidelines of the Behavioral Plan they write. Be energetic, creative and imaginative when working with children who have developmental delays. BCBAs are professionals who help solve behavior-related issues in all sorts of environments. They will observe behavior, analyze data and implement behavioral plans for the classroom setting. ABA is leveraged in education, social settings and useful for the child’s development while addressing problem behaviors associated with children on the autism spectrum.