Have you ever worked with a Court Appointed Special Advocate?
How often are you considering trauma during caregiver coaching, IEP meetings, and treatment protocols?
During today’s meal— I speak with a Court Appointed Special Advocate about the wins and challenges of the work she does, collaborating with large groups, and having the patience to navigate a slow system.
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About Leah Noble
BA in Child Development w/ concentration in ECSE, MA in Teaching w/ specialization in ABA
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I was diagnosed with ADHD and Bipolar Depression in high school and placed on medication. I was kicked out of my traditional high school for my behavior and ended up graduating from a continuation school. Started at a local Jr. College and transferred to California State University, Northridge and graduated with my bachelor’s degree with my ultimate goal of being an inclusion specialist. I began working on my teaching credential and a master’s degree just after, however I lost my motivation and decided to continue working as a 1:1 in LAUSD for kiddos in special education until I found out about ABA and the BCBA license. I then began my journey at National University where I completed my master’s and course and field work to sit for my exam. I’ve sat 3 times and then became a mom.
Both my kids had significant expressive language delays and my life as a therapy mama began. Once both my kids were in preschool the opportunity to become a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) came available. This is something I had learned about in my undergraduate work and was on my bucket list for 18 years. I completed the training and was officially sworn in as an officer of children’s court in April 2019.
As a CASA, my primary role is to be a stable, safe adult and advocate in court for them to ensure that their voices are heard. While on my juvenile justice case, I was going into juvenile hall and while in there, I noticed that the staff was not supportive of helping these very vulnerable, traumatized children and began questioning why there was ZERO trauma informed practices and ZERO behavior support services being provided and these were the two very much needed supports not just for the kiddos, but the staff as well. I’d mentioned my observations to my youth’s legal team of 5 attorney’s (it’s a CSEC case) Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Regional Center, Los Angeles County of Education (LACOE) and Department of Mental Health (DMH) and continued to be told that Department of Probation wouldn’t allow ABA due to liability purposes.
This obviously made NO SENSE to me considering their other volunteer-based organizations were allowed into the halls to provide alternative forms of therapy i.e. music, art etc. While I absolutely agree that these are necessary supports, they are definitely not going to provide that support that behavioral services would. So this began my journey on how to figure out how to get these supports in there for the children and staff.
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Follow Leah!
RESOURCES
Website: casala.org
Reading
“The Deepest Well” by Nadine Burke Harris, M.D.
“The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel van der Kolk
“Stranger Danger” by Charity Chandler-Cole
Behavior Bites Podcast
”Beyond Trauma-Informed Care” with dr. danyelle beal
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Chat with me on Instagram— @rosie.eats.bx
Read excerpts from the episode on my website!— rosiebx.com/episode/38-leah-noble
Behavior Bites is hosted by Rosie Jeffers, MAT, BCBA, LABA
