Nicole Thorp has worked with children with developmental disabilities since January 2000, while pursuing her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Montevallo. Upon graduation, she began working at JBS Mental Health Authority as a COPE children’s case manager for Project FIND at DHR. When working with children with developmental disabilities called her back in 2008, she began working with Ashley Faust as a verbal behavior therapist for in-home therapy, providing academic services for local schools, and as an interventionist for a small group of students with autism, which was the beginning of LEAPS. Nicole finished her Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2016 as LEAPS began to add speech and occupational services to its academic program. Nicole has a passion for literacy that is ingrained in every lesson and provides after school literacy tutoring and dyslexia intervention. She is trained in the Level I Barton Reading and Spelling System and is pursuing coaching certification in DIR/Floortime. When not at LEAPS, Nicole enjoys spending time with family and friends, photography, gardening, trying new foods, and enjoying the outdoors. Nicole and her husband Andrew share two children together, Elsie and Archie, who both benefited greatly from attending LEAPS in their younger years.