Growing together to reach new heights

Elyssa mckee, m.ed., bcba

Behaviour Analyst and Clinical Director

Elyssa holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education with a Focus on Autism and Developmental Disorders. She is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) and in her 18th year of experience practicing applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and working with children and adolescents who have a diagnosis of autism and/or severe challenging behaviours.

Elyssa is experienced in developing ABA programs based on Skinner’s analysis of verbal behaviour, conducting functional assessments to decrease challenging behaviours and increase desirable behaviours, and integrating and transitioning children into mainstream schools. She believes every child has the right to access community programs including education in an inclusive setting. She has worked collaboratively with schools in both Canada and Australia supporting her learners to become integrated into an inclusionary setting. Elyssa firmly believes in working closely with family members, teachers in both pre-school and school settings, and other key stakeholders is key to developing strong programs that produce generalized results which are maintained across environmental settings.

In 2011 Elyssa relocated to Melbourne, Australia where she founded Happy Oak Behavioural Consulting Pty Ltd- an early intervention centre for children with autism providing both home-based and centre based ABA programs. After having her own daughter Elyssa and her husband decided it was time to move back to Vancouver. She is happy to be back where her career started over 18 years ago and excited to introduce Happy Oak Canada.

Elyssa is a member of the British Columbia Association for Behaviour Analysis, the Association for Behaviour Analysts International, the New Zealand Association for Behaviour Analysts, and the Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia. She has presented at the NZ-ABA conference in 2012; the Positive Practice Symposium in 2013 at the Centre for Excellence in Behaviour Support in Brisbane, QLD; and the ABA Today Conference in 2013 and 2015 in Melbourne, VIC.

Sarah Tanveer, BA (Psych)

Program Manager

Sarah is a Senior BI/Program Manager with Happy Oak Behavioral Consulting. She has been working with children on the autism spectrum since 2012 both in the private sector and with the Burnaby school district. She graduated with a Bachelors in psychology with a minor in English from Western University, and has an advanced certification in Disability and Applied Behavior Analysis from Douglas College.

Sarah has been trained in Precision Teaching, Natural Environment Teaching, Direct Instruction programs, and Discrete trial training in the past, and now implements Verbal Behavior programs. As an Educational Assistant with the Burnaby School District, she worked specifically with children of different ages that were on the spectrum and has gained a wide variety of experience working with different behavioral and academic challenges. These experiences have allowed her to connect with the children she works with on their level, and she values nurturing their individual differences to help them navigate the world. Her passion lies in helping children specifically on the spectrum to gain the skills needed to achieve success for socially and academically meaningful outcomes in their lives. Sarah is currently working under the supervision of Elyssa Mckee (BCBA) towards her certification as a BCaBA.

Amy Hayashi, BFA, (BCaBA)

Consultant
Board Certified Associate Behaviour Analyst

Amy obtained her Board Certified assistant Behaviour Analyst (BCaBA) certification in Melbourne, Australia in 2019. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in theatre and performing arts from SFU, and has always been eager to share her creative knowledge with kids and teenagers. She has worked as a BI/Program Supervisor with kids with ASD in Australia and Canada in homes, schools, preschools, and centres for the last 6 years, from ages 2 to 15. Amy is most passionate about merging her knowledge of ABA and drama to help kids with autism practice social skills, vary their tone of voice and expression, and to move away from repetitive, habitual play to explore their own individuality and creativity.

Amy is thrilled to see the small changes day to day within the children that are so significant and accumulate to create big changes for them over their lives. Her future goal is to create Happy Oak centre-based group drama classes and programs that can help kids obtain social skills that they can maintain and use practically in their day-to-day lives.