Meet the team!
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Maggie Roth, M.S., MEd, BCBA, TSBVI, COMS
Owner
Maggie, born and raised in Staunton, VA, founded Highlight in 2017. Maggie graduated with her B.A. from Mary Baldwin and then furthered her career with a M.S. from Radford, Visual Impairment Endorsement at GMU, a M. Ed. from JMU, Certificate in O/M from UNC, and a BCBA from UNC. After working in the local area, Maggie noticed a need for clinic based services in the local area. She founded Highlight to help mitigate the diverse need within the community. Her favorite part of working at Highlight is the staff and clients she interacts with. Maggie’s favorite animal is a stingray. An interesting fact is that Maggie has taught for 19 years!
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Katie Phelps, B.A., M.S., BCBA, LBA
Clinical Director
Katie graduated from University of Virginia with a B.A. and received her M.S. from Nova Southeastern University. She has been working in the field of ABA sense 2008. Since Katie was young, she knew that she wanted to work with the special need’s population in some way. After considering a few different career paths over the years, she chose to pursue the field of applied behavior analysis because of the ability to work not only with children, but also with their families and caregivers. Katie says, “ABA allows staff to learn not only the areas of need of our clients, but also their strengths. ABA looks at the child as a whole and offers strategies to truly help improve identified socially significant behaviors. These behaviors can include decreasing problem behavior such as aggression or meltdowns, but it can also work towards increasing vital life skills, such as communication, social skills and play skills! At Highlight, we get to focus on building relationships with our clients and their families to work towards life-changing end goals.” Katie’s favorite part of working at Highlight is the ability to join staff during sessions and help brainstorm and plan for programming and strategies. She also loves communicating with parents/caregivers to truly established the best path to progress and success. Her favorite animals are cats. She has a 23lb cat that is on a diet, however it is clearly not working!
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Jenifer Fitzgerald, BCBA, LBA
BCBA
Jenifer taught Early Childhood Special Education in Augusta County for 19 years prior to becoming a behavior analyst. She was looking for a change of pace and found behavior therapy to be a great fit. Jenifer enjoys focusing on one child/client at a time. Her favorite part of ABA is getting to know the families when working in home. Jenifer appreciates working with a company that feels like a family. She has 3 sons that she is very proud of and is local to the valley area her whole life. Her favorite animal is either a dog or cat!
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Laura Farrar, B.S., M. Ed., Cert in ABA
RBT
Laura is a recent graduate from George Mason University with a Masters in Special Education and Certificate in Applied Behavioral Analysis. She received her B.S. from Radford University. Laura explains that after working in the classroom for three years, she wanted to further her skills in the field that fascinated her. Laura was looking for a one-on-one opportunity to work with kids so that she could help them reach their individual goals. Laura’s favorite part of working at Highlight is the awesome clients and coworkers. Her favorite animal is a giraffe and during her free time, she enjoys snowboarding. Laura has also hiked Machu Picchu!
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Brian Roth, BSW, MBA
Business Manager
Brian earned his BSW and MBA from James Madison University. Brian has 43 years of experience working in Human Services. He began managing Maggie’s business in 2017 when Highlight opened. Brian’s favorite part of working at Highlight is observing the team that has been assembled and seeing the growth and changes in the clients and families being served. His favorite animal is Aggie- although he doesn’t like thinking of her as an animal. A fun fact about Brian is that he enjoys researching genealogy because it connects him to a collection of very interesting people in his past, he also enjoys being a detective.
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Natalie Ballew, CPCO, CPC, CRC, CPB
Administrative Specialist - Staunton
Natalie is our “front of house” mastermind. She assists families and staff with billing, insurance, contracts, intake paperwork, etc. Natalie started out in the billing department for UVA Physician's Group. She realized how successful she was in the position and decided to become a certified medical coder. We are thankful that she transitioned to our team a few years ago. Natalie has 3 children, 2 dogs, and a guinea pig with her husband, Ryan. Her favorite animal is a hedgehog.
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Terri Perry
Administrative Specialist - Harrisonburg
Aggie is originally from Mississippi. She traveled to Virginia with her two sisters who also found a new home. Aggie’s parents adopted her from her picture posting at the SPCA. At first, Aggie was named Chatty Cathy by the folks at the SPCA because she liked to announce people that were walking by her in the shelter, a hobby she still does at the clinic. Aggie may sound fierce, but her tail is always wagging. The secret is to pet her, then she will stop barking. Aggie loves working at Highlight because between the staff, the clients, and their families coming in, she can always get someone to pet her. Plus, if she was left at home, she would have to spend the day with the family cat and she has yet to figure out a way to get him to pet her. Aggie enjoys going for walks, and the dog park is her favorite hangout spot. After a long day of trying to hold down the barking, she can let it loose there, announcing all the dogs that walk past the little dog park. Aggie cannot wait to meet you at the clinic!
