Featured Certified Autism Specialist – Dr. Love Johnson

Dr. Love Johnson, DrPH, MS, MA, CCC-SLP, CAS, CPH

Title: Certified Multilingual Speech Language Pathologist, Linguist & Certified Autism Specialist, Certified Public Health Researcher

City/State: Cedar Hill, TX

School/Organizations: K&K Services, Cook Childrens, Childrens Medical Center of Dallas

 

1) How has earning the Certified Autism Specialist been meaningful and satisfying?

My CAS certification has been instrumental in favorable annual employment reviews and additional compensation based on my ongoing professional continuing education and development in the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

2) How has the CAS credential effected your professional growth?

CAS was instrumental in my acceptance into a self-designed post-doctoral autism certification specialty program with Texas Tech University. As a result, I am receiving cutting edge training to work more effectively with pediatric populations with ASD.

3) What changes need to be made in your work environment?

Enhanced collaboration among the psychologists, diagnosticians, occupational therapist, and speech pathologists is needed during the assessment and consultation process.

4) How do you like to be recognized, acknowledged and rewarded for a job well done?

A parent who submits positive feedback regarding changes in their child’s differences in social language, communication, sensory interests and use leads is encouraging that I have executed my job effectively.

5) What is your greatest challenge or roadblock?

The greatest challenge is the high incidence of ASD referrals in concert with low census of specialized professionals available to assess with the ASD population.

6) What makes you feel like a valuable contributor?

The professional education and work experience in bilingual speech-language pathology, sociolinguistics, social and behavioral sciences has enhanced my ability to work effectively as part of multi-disciplinary teams in the medical and educational settings.

7) What support, tools/resources, skills or empowerment do you need to be more effective?

I would encourage graduate programs and national organizations whose professions work with ASD populations to collaborate and develop hands-on mock trainings when updated diagnostic assessments are marketed, e.g. ADOS-2, workshops that discuss multi-disciplinary, differential diagnosis of ASD populations with secondary diagnoses and webinars that cover changes in the DSM and medical billing coding.

8) What strengths or talents do you possess that aren’t being used?

I believe that professionals who work with special needs populations should be flexible, patient and have an open mind about differential diagnosis and intervention of children with ASD. As a healthcare professional trained in health psychology counseling, my strength in articulating recommendations to families of recently diagnosed children with ASD is paramount to facilitating adherence and compliance to the recommended intervention plan.

9) What de-motivates you?

Apathetic professionals who choose not to collaborate or allow personal ethics to affect service quality.

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