Sarah Murray holds a Bachelor of Honours degree in Applied Psychology from the University College Cork, and a Master of Science degree in Applied Behaviour Analysis from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Sarah is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) with the Behaviour Analyst Certification Board. Sarah is also an International Behaviour Analyst and is a member of the Psychological Society of Ireland, a member of the Division of Behaviour Analysis in Ireland and Special Interest Group in Autism Spectrum Disorder in Ireland.
Sarah has travelled to Belarus, working in children's orphanages and adult institutions, working with a wide variety of abilities. In addition, Sarah spent a year working as a research assistant in Galway, teaching an extensive social skills curriculum to children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Sarah has received formal PECS training, along with training and experience on the implementation of an empirically validated play curriculum to children with additional needs. Sarah has received training on teaching psychosexual education and adolescent issues to teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder and designing and developing individualised ASD specific sex education programmes. Sarah is continually developing her skill set as a professional and has a specific key focus in the area of child development and special needs education.
To date, Sarah's main area of expertise lies in working with children who present with developmental delays, behavioural related difficulties, language and communicative barriers, and deficits in play skills and social skills. Many of Sarah's clients have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Sarah has an abundance of knowledge and experience in the education and development of children in early years and in early intervention. Teaching functional speech, language and communication, and alternative/augmentative modes of communication to children who present with different abilities, is one of Sarah's core areas of expertise. The repeated, successful outcomes of teaching verbal behaviour to children, is something that Sarah prides herself on.
Sarah's proficiency extends to designing and implementing positive behaviour support programmes, in order to reduce behaviours that challenge and to teach functional, replacement skills that are socially meaningful for children, and provide significant and meaningful change for their families.
As well as possessing competency in the above area's, Sarah possesses a diverse skill set in training fluent readers, teaching ASD specific psychosexual education and in parent, teacher and tutor training on the implementation of behaviourally based programmes.
In addition to the above mentioned, Sarah has a countless wealth of other experience, particularly in working with multiple children in one household, numerous sets of twins, triplets and multiple siblings with a focus on working on group, peer and sibling interactions.