Wisconsin’s behavior analysis association honored Dr. Rebecca Thompson on October 2, weeks before she leaves LEARN Behavioral for CASP’s policy team.
Key Takeaways
- WisABA honored a longtime Wisconsin advocate. The Wisconsin Association for Behavior Analysis recognized Dr. Rebecca Thompson at its October 2 conference for outstanding contributions to ABA in the state, LEARN Behavioral announced October 14.
- Her career ran from diagnostics to policy. Thompson rose from clinical work at the Wisconsin Early Autism Project to Director of Clinical Services, then led LEARN’s state and federal advocacy, most recently as Vice President of Advocacy.
- Her Wisconsin work is recent and specific. As President of the Wisconsin Autism Providers Association, she compiled figures on paused services during this fall’s ForwardHealth prior authorization delays. WAPA and WisABA jointly pressed the state for relief.
- She now moves to national policy. Thompson starts at CASP on October 19 as its second Director of Government Affairs hire this year. She will keep her state coalition roles through their current terms.
On October 2, at its annual conference, the Wisconsin Association for Behavior Analysis (WisABA) honored Dr. Rebecca Thompson for outstanding contributions to applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the state. Thompson, a Licensed Psychologist and Doctoral-Level Board Certified Behavior Analyst, has spent most of her career at the Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP). Twelve days later, LEARN Behavioral announced the award in a release that also marked her departure. Thompson is leaving LEARN, of which WEAP is a part, to become Director of Government Affairs at the Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP), a hire Acuity noted in its third-quarter roundup of ABA executive appointments.
“As excited as I am to start a new adventure with CASP, it’s also difficult to leave the company that has been my work home for over 25 years,” Thompson told Acuity. Her last day at LEARN is October 16, and she starts at CASP on October 19. She said she is parting “on the best possible terms” and that her colleagues at WEAP and LEARN “recognize the opportunity I will have to advocate for access to ABA services on a national scale.”
The release, distributed by the public relations firm PR Works, puts her tenure at WEAP and LEARN at more than 25 years. “During her career at WEAP and LEARN Behavioral, Rebecca has made a tremendous impact, and we are delighted with the policies and precedent set for LEARN Behavioral and the ABA community,” said Justin Funches, President of LEARN Behavioral’s autism provider network. Her “commitment to helping children with autism achieve their full potential, along with her state and federal advocacy, has made a real difference in the lives of countless children and families,” he added.
What the WisABA Award for Contributions to ABA in Wisconsin Recognizes
WisABA was founded in 2004. LEARN’s release describes the association as the state affiliate chapter of both the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) and the Association for Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA), and the honor as recognition for “Outstanding Contributions to the Field of ABA in Wisconsin.” In its chapter reports to ABAI, WisABA has called it the WisABA Award for Contributions to Behavior Analysis in the State of Wisconsin. Both names refer to the same award: when WisABA presented it posthumously in 2024 to one of its founders, Dr. Corrine Russell Donley, it did so for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of ABA in Wisconsin, according to remarks her son published after accepting it.
Past recipients include Dr. Jeffrey Tiger and Dr. Douglas Woods, according to the chapter’s reports. In one year, the association honored an organization rather than a person: the Wisconsin Autism Providers Association (WAPA), which it recognized for its continued commitment to autism service delivery. WAPA’s President at the time was Thompson, who has led the association since October 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has also served in WisABA’s own leadership; her profile lists her as the association’s Secretary from November 2023 to November 2025.
Thompson confirmed the award’s name and said WisABA gives it each year to an individual or an organization at its annual conference. She learned she was this year’s recipient shortly before announcing her move to CASP, she said, calling the timing “coincidental but much appreciated.” The honor carries particular weight for her because WEAP’s founders, Drs. Glen Sallows and Tamlynn Graupner, received the same award several years ago. “I was incredibly honored to be granted the same award as my mentors,” she said.
From Autism Diagnostics at WEAP to Advocacy Leadership at LEARN Behavioral
WEAP, which LEARN describes as the first ABA provider in Wisconsin, recognized Thompson for 25 years of service at an awards ceremony held as it celebrated its 30th anniversary. She began there in diagnostics and the delivery of ABA services, according to the release, and advanced to Director of Clinical Services, a title her LinkedIn profile dates to January 2017. LEARN has also described her as the leader of its Person-Centered ABA team, a group of clinical leaders dedicated to compassionate and individualized services.
In June 2024 she took on LEARN’s advocacy work, first as Senior Director for Advocacy and, since April 2026, as Vice President of Advocacy, according to her profile. CASP’s announcement of her hiring says she has led government affairs efforts in 17 states.
Wisconsin ABA Advocacy: WAPA, ForwardHealth, and the Governor’s Autism Council
Much of Thompson’s policy work in the state runs through ForwardHealth, Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, which administers ABA as a fee-for-service Behavioral Treatment Benefit with no managed care organization in between. Thompson has held a provider seat on the Wisconsin Governor’s Autism Council since 2019, according to CASP and her profile, and has spoken for providers as WAPA’s President throughout that time.
In February 2023, WAPA publicly welcomed a proposal in Governor Tony Evers’s budget to raise reimbursement for face-to-face clinical direction, the time a supervisor and a technician spend working with a child together. “This proposal will significantly help address challenges that exist for Wisconsin children and families in need of treatment,” Thompson said at the time.
This fall, she helped document the effects of a change in how ForwardHealth handles prior authorizations. After the program changed its process on August 17, Thompson compiled figures from eight provider organizations, which self-reported 400 pending requests and 20 children whose services had been placed on hold, Acuity reported in September. WAPA and WisABA sent the state Department of Health Services a joint letter on September 3 asking it to delay the new process until determinations could be made within seven days. When the department said it would keep granting one-time backdating to affected requests, Thompson told Acuity she believed the approach addressed the underlying problem. She has been a frequent source for Acuity’s coverage of Medicaid ABA policy.
State ABA Provider Coalitions Beyond Wisconsin
Thompson’s policy roles extend past the state line. She has been President of Illinois Providers for ABA Access and Quality (IPAAQ) since May 2025 and Chair of Massachusetts Providers for ABA Access and Quality (MPAAQ) since July 2025, according to her profile, and has served on the board of Autism United Wisconsin since June 2024, a role CASP listed among her public policy positions.
Thompson told Acuity she will remain with WAPA, IPAAQ, MPAAQ, and the Wisconsin Governor’s Autism Council through the end of her current terms. Although she will no longer represent a provider member, she said, WAPA, IPAAQ, and MPAAQ are happy for her to continue in an advisory role on CASP’s behalf. “CASP is eager to partner with state ABA and trade associations, so my continued involvement is a natural fit,” she said.
Thompson Joins CASP’s Government Affairs Team
CASP announced her hiring on September 15. Founded in 2016, the nonprofit trade association represents more than 475 autism service provider organizations from all 50 states and multiple countries, according to the announcement. Thompson is CASP’s second Director of Government Affairs hired this year, after Rebecca Giammatti in February. LEARN is a CASP member and sponsor, according to LEARN’s release. Beyond advocacy, CASP publishes practice guidelines for ABA, and its treatment-intensity benchmarks were the yardstick when seven providers, LEARN among them, measured their own outcomes this year.
In CASP’s announcement, Thompson called the association “the organization best positioned to speak on behalf of our field.” “It’s a big job supporting public policy work across 50 states,” she said, “but I’m right where I need to be to make the biggest impact for people with autism and their families.” Lorri Unumb, CASP’s Chief Executive Officer, said that “Rebecca’s track record speaks for itself.”
LEARN’s release closed with a statement, not attributed to a named speaker, congratulating Thompson and saying that LEARN, as a CASP member, looks forward to continuing to work with her on behalf of children and families with autism.
Thompson told Acuity the new role will take her into policy questions beyond the 17 states where LEARN operates. “With CASP representing providers in 50 states and DC, there is plenty for me to learn about what’s happening in other parts of the country,” she said. “I’m looking forward to partnering with providers I haven’t worked with yet, as well as collaborating with long-time friends and colleagues in states that will be new to me.”
Medicaid ABA Policy Pressures Facing CASP’s Government Affairs Team
Thompson takes on the national role as federal and state scrutiny of Medicaid ABA spending grows. In August, CMS released a state toolkit on ABA reporting that Medicaid and CHIP payments for ABA rose 421 percent between 2021 and 2025, from about $1.94 billion to $10.1 billion. Federal auditors have examined ABA payments in several states, including Wisconsin, and the toolkit counts at least $198.4 million in improper Medicaid payments identified across federal and state reviews.
Pressure is also arriving through state budgets. Montana withheld a planned 3 percent provider rate increase for its 2027 fiscal year, citing budget shortfalls, and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission has proposed eliminating its state-funded Children’s Autism Program in its 2028-29 budget request.
The goodbye, by her own account, is a partial one. In a LinkedIn post this week, Thompson wrote that she knows she and her former colleagues will continue to work together. “This isn’t goodbye,” she added, “it’s ‘see you next week’ (just with a different Zoom background).”
