Teacher friendly and proven interventions for learners with special needs through trainings & integrated consultation by renowned psychologist and behavior analyst Anthony (Tony) Castrogiovanni, Ph.D. He began his career in 1977, providing psychological and behavior analytic services to children and adults who were being discharged from The Willowbrook State Developmental Center in New York back into their local communities. It was there that he developed one of the first token economy based service agencies as well as developing a teaching curriculum of ‘Boehm” concepts. Since then Tony has specialized in the treatment of severe problem behavior, PDD and Autism Spectrum Disorder as it impacts behavior and education, and has developed both site-based and in-home programs for children and adults with autism. He has taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he also received his Masters and Doctorate in Psychology and has published in peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Research in Developmental Disabilities. As an expert presenter, Tony has spoken at numerous conferences both to train teachers and other staff as well as to present findings from ongoing research to professional audiences.
For the past several years he has conceived, developed, and directed two programs that served children and adults in an innovative manner that produced better outcomes than previous programming had achieved. While with Chimes Delaware he was the Clinical and Residential Director serving over 80 adolescents and adults. As the Director for the Bancroft Center for Autism Research and Educational Services in Haddonfield, NJ he oversaw the development of in-home programs for over 30 children, the development of Pyramid Style Classrooms in many school districts in the Eastern US, as well as developing a consultative arm that provides direction for changes in organizations to meet best practices. During this time, he was a member of the Monitoring and Review Board for the Delaware Autistic Program. He has been providing private consultation to families, schools, agencies and businesses since 1989. Tony started collaborating with Pyramid Global & PECS co-founder Andy Bondy, Ph.D. in 1993. Few years later in 1999, he decided to leave his private practice to join the company full time. His entrepreneurial spirit and business background coupled with psychology & behavior analysis bring an exceptional perspective and understanding to program development that allows the design of outstanding clinical and educational procedures. These make sense for the individual client as well as the larger environment in which the program takes place. At Pyramid Global, his experience and passion for helping schools and agencies found abode. But this transition had its challenges. Tony had been managing his own practice and “not being the boss” was a different experience. “I had been running my own show for a long time,” however, the support system within Pyramid Global helped immensely. Tony is “charged up and ready to go” every for training or consultation. Tony also admires that he works hand in hand with co-founders Lori Frost, MS CCC-SLP and Andy Bondy. “Andy and I have similar backgrounds and similar philosophies and what emerges is greater than the sum.” Lori comes from a speech pathology background which benefits by learning a different perspective. “I feel educated every time we speak about speech and language from and SLPs point of view. She’s almost made me a junior, junior slp! A joy to work with.”
Pyramid Global has a robust system to help implement trainings, workshops and consultations for educators and school districts. “We have a quite competent crew behind the scenes,” assuring that all administrative and logistical needs of the clients are taken care of. The company is dedicated to meaningful improvements in functional skills, learning and classroom management. “Any organization whose thrust is to help others lead better, fuller lives will always be relevant and needed.” There are several resources available to help teachers, professionals and parents support learning of their students. Tony cites Working 4 app for its amazing benefits. “It has universally helped my clients maintain r+ across environments where physical token boards would be difficult or out of place.”