Theresa MacFarland

Theresa is a board certified behavior analyst and holds a Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education. Over the last 18 years, she has specialized in working with young children with autism and their families in homes, center-based environments, schools, and the community. Theresa’s interests lie in designing and implementing naturalistic and play-based interventions for young children with autism. Her focus of intervention is incorporating evidence-based treatments thoughtfully to promote social and functional language, reciprocal relationships, generalization of skills, and parent training within typical routines and environments. Theresa is a certified trainer and direct delivery provider in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM, Rogers, et al.) and has taught naturalistic language development as a therapist and parent-trainer in Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) at Vanderbilt University.

In addition to working with children with autism, Theresa can be found cooking in her kitchen, digging in her garden, fixing up the family vintage camper, or enjoying a good book. She is a printmaker, illustrator, and avid crafter who enjoys making things with her hands…and is also the hand behind Thrive’s logo! She is thankful to be sharing the pleasures in life with her husband, Andrew, their three children, and their loving husky lab dog Zoe.