David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Our 25th anniversary provides us with an opportunity to look beyond those who have served on our Board of Directors and our Professional Advisory Board and reflect on the countless other volunteers who have shared their time and talent with ASAT. In this second installment, we feature another long-serving volunteer, Sunita Chhatwani, MSc, MEd currently living in Toronto, Canada where she resides as a retiree.
Sunita has a very interesting career path which began in India immediately following the completion of two Masters, (M.Sc. Home Economics- Major- Child Development and Minor- Nutrition & MEd). She served as a lecturer in the Education Department in a College affiliated with Jaipur University, Raj, India, and the in Home Economics Department of a DEI, Deemed University, Agra, UP, India. After several years of teaching, she and her husband raised a family in UAE where she worked as a special education teacher working more extensively with children with autism. She considered becoming a BCBA and learned about ASAT after attending an autism conference.
Sunita first joined ASAT as an Extern – in fact, the first one from the Middle East where she lived at that time of her initial involvement with us. From the outset, Sunita was an active member of our Externship. Sunita was instrumental in spreading ASAT’s resources throughout the Middle East and India by helping update our international database and assisting in the development of protocols to promote dissemination. Her efforts helped us get our newly published content into the hands of more readers. She also supported our efforts to launch ASAT’s Facebook page and was an active participant.
Based on our experiences with Sunita, it was clear that she was the type of individual who could make ongoing contributions to ASAT upon completion of her 150-hour Externship with us. We invited Sunita to become our Website Content Co-Coordinator. In this role, Sunita has provided valuable input on our website, collected Google Analytic data, and helped to better organize our online content. She also assisted in writing and refining many of our #WebsiteWednesday posts. Currently, Sunita has played a lead role in helping ASAT provide recommendations for further reading that appear below all our newly published content. Sunita has worked diligently on providing further reading links in scores of previously published articles as well. These efforts help our readers better appreciate our vast offerings that may relate to the article just read. She is an important part of our Proofreading Team, helping us prepare new content for publication month after month.
Finally, as shown below, Sunita has written extensively for ASAT, authoring or co-authoring articles on a broad spectrum of articles. I anticipate that she will continue to write for us. Sunita is diligent, collaborative, and detail oriented, and we are very fortunate to have her as part of the ASAT family.
Thank you, Sunita!
Sunita’s Articles:
Celiberti, D., & Chhatwani, S. (2023). A treatment summary of magnet therapy. Science in Autism Treatment, 20(7).
Celiberti, D., & Chhatwani, S. (2022). Supporting behavior analysts. Science in Autism Treatment, 19(8)
Celiberti, D., Chhatwani, S. Miliotis, A., & Querol-Cintrón, B. (2023). How ASAT supports international behavior analysts. Science in Autism Treatment, 20(9).
Celiberti. D., Leary. P., Bravo. A., Chhatwani, S., & Taylor. M. (2017). Standing for science, supporting applied behavior analysis. Science in Autism Treatment, 14 (1). 37-38.
Chhatwani, S. (2021). The September 26th Project: Turning tragedy into action. Science in Autism Treatment, 18(11).
Chhatwani, S., & Fried, K. (2016). Research Synopsis: An intervention for sensory difficulties in children with autism: A randomized trial. Science in Autism Treatment, 13(1), 26-27.
Chhatwani, S., & Fried, K. (2017). Research Synopsis: The effects of improvisational music therapy on joint attention behaviors in autistic children. Science in Autism Treatment, 14(2), 23-24.
Chhatwani, S., & Sivaraman, M. (2016). Consumer Corner: Review of CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Science in Autism Treatment, 13(4), 12-15.
Chhatwani, S., & Winterling, V. (2021). Research Synopsis: Third time’s the charm or three strikes you’re out? An updated review of the efficacy of dolphin‐assisted therapy for autism and developmental disabilities. Science in Autism Treatment, 18(9).
Media Watch letters written by Sunita Chhatwani:
- ASAT Responds to the Khaleej Times: “What’s next after school? Parents call for more employment opportunities for autistic people” (2021)
- ASAT Responds to “The Doris Duan-Young Autism Center: Changing lives one at a time” (2020)
- ASAT Responds to wtsp.com’s “Mother says essential oils help with daughter’s autism” – Association for Science in Autism Treatment (2016)
- ASAT Responds to ABCNews.go.com’s “Mom Praises Mall Santa Claus for Kindness Toward Son With Autism” (2015)
Citation for this article:
Celiberti, D. (2023). Celebrating Sunita Chhatwani, MSC, MEd. Science in Autism Treatment, 20(11).
