Our Directors

Danielle, a journalist by training, was born and raised in Brazil. After receiving the diagnosis of autism for her first daughter, Sophia, at 16 months, Danielle began her studies in the area, mainly in the concepts of ABA and RUBI. After her second son Benjamin was diagnosed at 14 months old, Danielle radically changed her life to dedicate herself to her children and to help other families with ASD children.

Education became a significant challenge. Her daughter went to public schools in the states of Kansas and Florida, a school specializing in special needs children, and nowhere did she find an education where the child could really learn. Another issue was that going to school reduced the hours of ABA, Speech, and Occupational therapy. Therefore, she decided to homeschool with a teacher focused on the children, and adding more hours of ABA and therapies, in general, would be the best solution.

In July 2023, Danielle started homeschooling, having a teacher with each of the children for two hours, from Monday to Friday. In the other eight hours, she invested in ABA, OT, Speech therapies, and extracurricular activities such as sports, music, and leisure to meet the need for interaction with other children. The result was so incredible that her daughter began to read, write, and do mathematics. Her son made not only academic gains but behavioral gains as ABA insertions were intensified.

With the results obtained, Danielle invited teacher Kateri to the mission of providing other children with this chance for real development and learning. Offering homeschooling with a teacher in the 1x1 system and helping parents create a schedule of extracurricular activities and therapies for each child became the dream and life mission of the two, who together, created Pathway, a path for children with autism to learn and have more time to invest in therapies and extra activities.

Originally from Wyoming, Kateri moved to Saint Augustine, Florida to pursue her college education at Flagler College. Following graduation, Kateri started her career in education and found her passion for helping children in need.

 After years of teaching in schools, Kateri decided she wanted to explore another path where she would more direct impact on her students. She knew from experience how much 1 to 1 one teaching can change the lives of children, and wanted to pursue this to help out children with special needs who really need help and support. 

She began to work with Danielle’s children, and other households as well. Soon after she started to work one to one with children with ASD, she began to see amazing progress and change. Her students began to read, write, and communicate and it was life changing; Kateri knew she could help so many other children. 

Combining education with methods of applied behavior analysis (ABA), Kateri began to develop a curriculum that is based on real results of the success of her students, and designed to be adapted to children of all needs. 

Together, she and Danielle formed Pathway to help families with children with autism and special needs find success in their education, through programs designed around students individual learning styles, abilities, and needs.