I’m Sophie, Founder of Celeration Management Consultants

I’m a former school teacher and ABA behavior technician who has lived and been educated in different parts of the world. I bring an eclectic range of experiences to my practice as an educator, and continue to be inspired by the different paths I have taken.

I was born in England and raised between the UK, Australia and Singapore. I’ve been living in the US since 2011, and now call Colorado home. I’ve been educated in different parts of the world and have attended a total of 9 different educational institutions since Kindergarten! My experiences as both a student and a teacher have shaped my values and practices as an educator today.

I am proud of my work as a Precision Teacher, Board Certified Behavior Analyst® and Instructional Designer. I focus on creating assent-based learning contexts that foster fluency in component skills and set the stage for kids and teens to flourish into confident and resilient adults.

In my daily practice, I think about the purpose of education and the world in which my learners will inhabit in 10-20 years. My purpose in the lives of my students is shaped by the value I place on the role of the family, a proactive approach to education that strives for enjoyment and efficiency, and knowledge of a future that will be dominated by STEM industries.

I know firsthand that parents are their child’s first teachers, playmates and advocates. They are the experts of their children.

I remember losing confidence that I could perform well academically, and believing the false story that ‘I wasn’t a maths and science person’ or ‘bright.’ With the help of my mum, my first Precision Teacher, I learned that lots of practice, interactive learning and experience being successful solve and avoid many educational challenges.

As a Precision Teacher, I am inspired by the scientific method and it’s commitment to curiosity and discovery that empowers educators, families and students to love teaching and learning.

Showing kids and teens how to love learning so that they can blossom into lifelong learners is why I do what I do.

Career highlights

I made the leap to pursue graduate school in 2014 when I left Charlottesville, Virginia for a 6-month road trip across the US. I’d planned to attend graduate school somewhere in California but stayed in Boulder, Colorado long enough to succumb to the Chief Niwot Curse! I found graduate school and was thrilled to be accepted into the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program and study for a Masters at the same time.

In 2016, I graduated with my Masters in Human Learning and Development, and a concentration in Early Childhood Special Education. At BJS, I learned a tremendous amount about designing interactive environments with open-ended materials, and how to design child-led instruction without forgoing my responsibilities to teach. By 2017, I wanted to explore the variety of teaching opportunities outside of a classroom context and happened upon a position as a behavioral interventionist working with autistic children. I quickly fell in love with the field of psychological science and went back to school.

In 2020, I completed my graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis. It was during my last class that I discovered Precision Teaching. When I saw what was not only possible, but probable, using that measurement system, I haven’t looked back. In my short time working as a behavioral interventionist, I saw the health insurance approach to autism treatment change and any potential for innovation quashed. The writing was on the wall. Health insurance said behavior isn’t academic, and many schools aren’t aware of the long history of psychological science in education. To date, the largest educational study in the US found that behavior analytic approaches were the most effective. And then, they replicated the results.

That left one option: start Celeration Management Consultants.

Brief CV

• Getting Under the Hood of ACT with Miranda Morris

• Octave Innovation’s Assent-Based Treatment

• MAGPIES Mental Health Programme developed by Dr. Sarah Cassidy

• Octave Innovation’s Project Blue Precision Teaching Intensive

• Octave Innovation’s Instructional Design Accelerator

• Volunteer in the Standard Celeration Society’s Non-Conference Programs’ Committee

• Volunteer in the Coloardo Association for Behavior Analysis’ Dissemination Committee

• Founder of Compassionate Behavior Analysis, LLC

• Founder of Celeration Management Consultants, LLC

• Board Certified Behavior Analyst® 2021

• International Behavior Analyst 2021

• Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology 2020

• Masters in Education & Human Development with a Concentration in Early Childhood Special Education from Colorado University Denver 2016

• Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at Boulder Journey School 2015-16

• Bachelors in English Literature from Exeter University, UK 2007-11 - Dissertation: Gay in Public: The Heritage of Shame and Pride in Twenty First Century Homonormative America

• Study Abroad at the College of William and Mary, Virginia 2009-10 - Black American Studies

Professional Interests

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

• Instructional Design

• Philosophy of Science

• Precision Teaching and Measurement

• Generative language, learning and instruction

• Contextual Behavioral Science

• Relational Frame Theory

• Geopolitics