The Picky Eaters’ Club
General Inquiries
The Picky Eaters’ Club
General Inquiries
Lauren Abel / Founder, Executive Director
Lauren Abel has been helping children with Autism Spectrum disorders in the Houston, TX area since she was a teenager. She knew at a very young age that she was called to be an agent of positive change within the special needs community. After graduating with a degree in Psychology from the University of Houston, she found herself unhappy and burned out working in a traditional behavioral clinic. This frustration fueled her passion to figure out a way to reach more children with Autism and to improve their lives in meaningful ways by meeting their individual needs. She knew there had to be a better way, and she was willing to rock the boat to find it. She quit her job and hit the road as a traveling therapist, conducting private in-home sessions for a small group of children. The improvements these children demonstrated, as a result of working with Lauren, were astounding to their parents. Parents were seeing firsthand that improvement was possible, even if they hadn’t experienced it before.
Lauren is passionate about developing dynamic solutions to real problems and offers private consultations, private sessions, professional education, a variety of curriculum options and staffing solutions through her for-profit, The Institute for Special Needs Children, where she is currently the CEO. Lauren is a behavior analyst, is licensed in several
other therapeutic modalities and is always looking for innovative ways to help children and families who are struggling. Lauren is an innovator when it comes to creating treatment packages for her cases, putting empirically supported treatments together in dynamic ways that produce life changing results. She specializes in working with individuals who have severe or extreme behaviors, little or no language, complicated medical histories and/or those who don’t respond to other effective approaches. She also works with a limited number of private clients, across the Autism spectrum and a variety of other special needs. For more information, visit us online at GetInSNC.com.
Lauren was eager to do more for her community and took on the task of developing a non-profit day-treatment center where children with Autism could receive high quality services on a full time basis, as an alternative to a traditional school setting. Lauren founded The Next Step Academy (NSA), a center which serves children from birth into adulthood, with a variety of service offerings to help individuals and their families navigate Autism. NSA currently serves over 30 families and has helped hundreds of families since it opened in 2005. Lauren serves as Executive Director of The Next Step Academy, as well as President of the Board of Directors of A Future for All, Inc.
Lauren also serves as the Executive Director of Rhythmic Movement Training International (RMTi) a reflex integration program that has profound and meaningful positive effects on the foundations of learning, allowing individuals to build new resources and to live life with greater ease and less stress. For more information, visit us online Rhythmicmovement.org.
Lauren lives in Houston with her husband, their three children and their family dog.
Address: 5400 Mitchelldale St C1 Houston, Texas 77092 | Email: info@thenextstepacademy.org
The Picky Eaters’ Club: 281-609-7333 | General Inquiries: 281-715-2888
Office Hours: Mon – Fri 8 – 4 | Service Hours: Mon – Fri 8 – 6 • Sat 8 – 1
The Next Step Academy is a Program of A Future for All, Inc, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Corporation Tax ID: 30-0448576
Founder's Statement
We are a Christian founded and managed organization. As a result we operate on and highly value biblical truth. We seek to be pleasing to God, according to His Word, in all that we say and do. We live out this founding principle through our commitment to our
core values.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
Our Company is committed to the principles of equal employment. We are committed to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities, and all other employment laws and regulations. It is our intent to maintain a work environment which is free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation because of sex, gender, race, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, military service, veteran status, or any other status protected by federal, state or local laws. The Company is dedicated to the fulfillment of this policy in regard to all aspects of employment, including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, placement, transfer, training, promotion, rates of pay, and other compensation, termination, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.