Tammy Pentz, MS, BCBA, LBA | Director of NDBI

Tammy (Tami) is Program Director of NDBI (Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions) over the ESDM program (Early Start Denver Model). She is a Missouri Licensed and Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and was one of three first ESDM Certified Therapists in the state of MO through UCDAVIS in 2013.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia in 1995 and her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology (Behavior Analysis and Therapy track) from North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota under Dr. Raymond Miltenberger in 1998.  Tami has been working in the field of behavior analysis in some capacity since 1993. She initially worked as an implementer at the May Center for Child Development in Chatham Massachusetts and Princeton Child Development Center in Princeton New Jersey which both had been considered “Gold Standard” ABA schools for students with autism.  Some of her clinical experiences have included roles such as an independent behavioral consultant to St. Louis public school districts and families, both Applied Behavior Analysis Coordinator as well as a BCBA for St. Louis County Special School District, and Behavior Analyst / therapist for local ABA agencies and in private non-profit educational settings and state institutional settings such as Arlington Developmental Center in Memphis Tennessee.  She was a part of the team that helped to roll out the Mercy Intensive Early Intervention Program with Mercy Children’s Hospital in 2011.   She was an instructor for Washington University in St. Louis in the Applied Behavior Analysis Certificate Program and taught ABAI, ABAII, and the supervised practicum. She has had nine studies published in peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis the Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions and has presented at national and regional workshops and conferences. Tami had roles such as secretary or vice president for the Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis 2004-2011. Her interests include the combined use of proven behavioral teaching techniques including but not limited to discrete trial therapy, the analysis of verbal behavior (AVB/ VBT), Incidental Teaching (Early Start Denver Model, Natural Environment Teaching/ Natural Language Paradigm/ Pivotal Response Training), ABA small group design and instruction, and analysis of learning errors and strategies to develop appropriate stimulus control over learning.