President 

Kim Butler, RN 

Kim has over 11 years experience as a Registered Nurse taking care of patients, primarily in the cardiovascular field.  She was a charge nurse on a telemetry floor as well as the intensive care unit.  Because of the extreme aggression and self-injurious behaviors of her son with autism, Kim spent years pursuing biomedical treatments and different teaching methodologies.  These various treatments were not enough and he eventually was a candidate for residential placement.  It was then; Kim found an alternative way to work with her son using Applied Behavior Analysis techniques.  Her then 10 year old son went from being non-vocal to having over 200 functional words in one year’s time.  Jeffery now at 14 years of age is learning to read, write, and count.  He has a job at a local restaurant earning money and is able to purchase his own items at various stores and eating establishments.  Their family’s life has truly changed and the quality of her son’s life has increased 100% - he actually laughs now and requests interaction from others.  He says, “I love you” and frequently asks different questions such as "can I have…” or “will you…”.  Kim co-founded POAC TX in July 2006 because of the transformation that her son was experiencing.    Kim’s driving force for POAC TX is to help children with autism, their parents, and the professionals who serve them.  Kim assists parents in forming productive relationships with school districts and training the parents on how to enhance their child’s education including ARD participation and IEP writing.  She also serves on 2 committees for Smith County’s MHMR (Andrews Center), and runs a private ABA/VB school in Lindale for her son. 

Kim and her husband, Jeff, reside in Lindale, Texas.  They have 2 daughters, 1 granddaughter, and a 14 year old son, Jeffery, who has autism spectrum disorder. 

Vice President

 Regina Urban Crone, M.Ed., BCBA

Gina grew up in Charlotte, NC being the oldest of five kids. She was introduced to the world of autism when her youngest brother was adopted from Russia in 1996. He was 18 months old with few sounds, little eye contact and behaviors such as banging his head on the floor when frustrated. She remembers her mom shuffling lines of shoes and toys he'd construct across the floor and spending hours on the floor trying to get him to communicate.  Gina’s mom was on a mission and she sought out many professionals with no answers.  During most sessions he would just cry and become frustrated.  Finally, a speech pathologist named Jane - whom her mom sings praises of to this day - taught her brother to communicate through sign. The use of Sign language facilitated her brother's speech and by kindergarten he had three spoken-word sentences. Their family was excited for every stride her brother took. Being the big sister, she took an interest in being just like Jane – the lady who had taught her brother. So, in high school she provided respite care for children with disabilities. However, once Gina became an ABA therapist, she found her passion.  

 While in college, Gina continued to work as an ABA therapist for fours years under a variety of ABA consultants in North Carolina. Gina attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she was dually enrolled as an undergraduate and graduate student. She graduated with a B.A in Special Education and then moved to Dallas, Texas to complete her master’s degree, where she also gained three years of experience as a special education teacher. While being a teacher, Gina earned her BCABA and continued to work in home ABA programs as a therapist and consultant.  She attended the University of North Texas and received her M.Ed in Special Education and certificate for Autism Intervention.  Gina is now a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).  She has gained over seven years of experience providing services to individuals with special needs and specializing in autism intervention. 

She is currently pursing her Ph. D. and is a part of the Systematic Training for Autism Researchers and School Personnel Project at the University of North Texas.

Gina and her husband, Sean, reside in Highland Village, Texas along with their three dogs:  Buffy, Georgia, and Callie. 

Secretary

Pattie LeJune

Pattie received an Associates of Applied Science from Brazosport College in General Office and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies of Early Childhood through 4th grade to obtain her teacher certification and special education certification.  Two of her sons received a diagnosis of autism seven years ago and this began a search for quality ABA services.  Pat and Pattie attended a workshop presented by Dr. Vince Carbone entitled, "Teaching Communication Skills to Children with autism and other Developmental Disorders".   They immediately started implementing some of the  ABA techniques and noticed a change.  The boys now come and ask for therapy because it is so enjoyable.  .For the past 6 years, Pattie has been actively involved in overseeing the two ABA home programs for her two sons who have autism. 

Pattie was also a member of the Performance Based Monitoring Analysis System Team for the Marshall Independent School District.  She currently teaches part-time in a private school setting, is an office manager for a private company and manages a Vendor Fiscal Intermediary Program.

Pattie and her husband, Patrick, reside in Marshall, Texas with their 5 children.  Their 9 year old son has autism spectrum disorder and their 13 year old son has PDD-NOS.

 Treasurer

 Carrie Bass, B.G.S., Autism Teacher 

Carrie began her career in Special Education in order to find ways to help her son, who has Asperger's.  She recieved her Bachelor of General Studies with an emphasis in Special Education from the University of Texas at Tyler.  She taught life skills for three years,  followed by three years teaching homebound students.  For the past two years she has taught at Van ISD, first as a behavior teacher, and now as their autism teacher.  Due to the training she received through POAC and CTAC, she has been able to utilize ABA and Verbal Behavior with her students. 

Carrie is currently pursuing her Masters in Special Education from the University of Texas at Tyler.  She is also pursuing her BCBA with course work from the University of North Texas.