Karin Torsiello, MS, BCBA Director of Operations, Advantage Behavioral Group
Karin Torsiello is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and the President of Behavior Basics Incorporated, a behavioral sciences consulting firm based in Florida who focuses on developing the parent child relationship. Karin is a graduate of Florida Institute of Technology where she received her Masters of Science degree in Applied Behavior Analysis. Since 1998 Karin has been actively providing behavior analysis services to the community, including training both parents and staff of organizations who perform child care services. Karin served on the faculty of the University of South Florida for seven years as the Senior Behavior Analyst with the Behavior Analysis Services Program, a partnership with the Department of Children and Families. Karin’s role included supervising a team of behavior analysts who provided direct services to families who are experiencing behavior issues with their children; these cases often times involve children with mental health issues or developmental issues. Karin was also responsible for curriculum development and revision, research activities specific to parent trainings and providing trainings for caregiver’s in the community. Karin has also developed behavior management programs for local group homes and mental health facilities.
- Karin’s current roles include: curriculum development for parent training, conducting behavior management trainings for parents, for teenage mothers and for prisoners awaiting re-entry into the community, providing in-home consultation services for caregivers and children, consultation with multi-disciplinary committees to review cases of children who are displaying maladaptive behaviors and training of graduate students pursuing certification as a behavior analyst with the Florida Institute of Technology's on-line professional development program.
- Karin is a resident of Florida and enjoys three children and a supportive husband. Her children are a 13 year-old girl as well as two boys ages 5 and 4. Karin also enjoys reading books, both fiction and non-fiction, getting together with friends at the park with the children, and spending time with the children in the pool or at the beach.
Angelique Walsh MA, BCBA Northeastern Instructional Director, Advantage Behavioral Group
Angelique Walsh received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology from Florida State University and her Master’s of Arts degree in psychology with a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Nevada. Early in her career from she found great joy working with children with Autism assisting with their home program therapy and shadowing children in the school environment. Her unique skills were then notice and she was quickly recruited by University of South Florida as a faculty member to work on a granted statewide project to increase the safety and stability of children in foster care placements. During the first six years with the University she focused on training numerous caregivers and professionals to use behavior management techniques to improve their children’s behavioral problems. Many of the children not only had behavior problems, but also suffered from numerous mental health disorders. Angelique has worked on several research projects and a program re-design project for group homes. In the seventh year with the University she became a senior behavior analyst in the West Palm Beach area and supervised other behavior analysts working in the community with caregivers of children in foster care and to build relationships with other agencies in the community.
For the past five years she has been working with Behavior Basics Incorporated as the Director of Instructional Design. Behavior Basics has offered her the opportunity to design curriculum, train teenage mothers and train prisoners re-entering the community. In 2008 she teamed up with Florida Institute of Technology as an instructor to aid in the education of students perusing their certification as Board Certified Behavior Analysts. Recently Advantage Behavioral Health group has brought her on to assist with behavioral consulting and Northeastern instructional deployment.
Angelique has two beautiful daughters ages 9 and 5. Her daughters never fail to make her laugh on a daily basis. During her free time she enjoys going to the beach with her girls, spending time with her extended family and traveling. She is always researching new topics and reads several books at one time because there are just too many interesting books available to just choose one. Her work is extremely fulfilling and important, but nothing compares to her ability to mother her two daughters.
Paula Leonardo, MS, BCBA Southwestern Instructional Director, Advantage Behavioral Group
Paula Leonardo is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and is the Director of Clinical Services for Behavior Basics Incorporated, a behavioral sciences consulting firm based in Florida who focuses on developing the parent child relationship. Paula obtained her Masters of Science Degree in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology . Since 2001 Paula has served the community as a Behavior Analyst including service to the University of South Florida for five years as a Behavior Analyst. In this capacity, Paula’s role included providing services to families experiencing behavior issues with their children or foster children who were living with them. Paula has extensive experience working with children who suffer with mental health problems and/or developmental issues. In addition to direct client services, Paula also has half a decade experience providing parenting trainings for caregiver’s in the community as well as developing behavior management programs for regional group homes and mental health facilities. Paula has a great deal of experience in training residential facility staff and monitoring implementation of behavior programs.
- Paula gained her practical experience by providing in-home consultation services for caregivers. Paula has vast experience in working with all types of caregivers and has had great success in changing the lives of those she has worked with in regards to decreasing unwanted behaviors and replacing the behaviors with appropriate ones. She currently holds the additional duties of assisting in developing curriculum for parent trainings and provides behavior management community trainings with attendees who have various backgrounds. Paula is also involved with training college student working towards their Master’s degree in applied behavior analysis.
- Originally from the Philadelphia/New Jersey area, Paula now lives in Florida with her wonderful husband and four children. She has two sons, ages 13 and 10 and two step-daughters, who are 9 and 11 years old. Paula also enjoys spending time with her family, attending her children’s sporting events, cooking with her husband, and traveling. Paula is bilingual and is able to speak, read, and write Spanish fluently.
