Special Needs Spotlight

Guest for Tuesday, June 2nd at 7:30PM

Dr. Cara Daily – Christian, Wife, Mother, Pediatric Psychologist

Christian Life.  It was not until after I received my Ph.D. that I committed my life to Christ and began growing in my relationship with God.  My desire is to glorify God, love others, live in the present, and use the gifts God gave me to bring others closer to Jesus.  I have a passion for the world to understand how all individuals, particularly those with special needs, are created in God’s image, for His purpose, so that He may be glorified.

Personal Life.  I am married to a wonderful man, by the name of Gordon who is the founder of BoxCast, a company that streams live programs for churches, sports, and other events.  I have two wonderful children, Quentin, age 5, and Serena, age 1. Quentin is a little engineer, who loves Legos, drawing, reading, biking, skiing, and playing with friends.  Serena, who we adopted at birth, is a sweet, happy, yet determined little girl who loves dancing to music and playing ball with our three small dogs.

Professional Life.  I am a licensed pediatric psychologist with over 20 years of clinical, research, and teaching experience with autism in the home, school, hospital, and community settings. I am the president and training director of Daily Behavioral Health, a leading Christian behavioral health provider in northeast Ohio specializing in assessment, consultation, and treatment of autism, anxiety, disruptive behavior disorders, and other special needs. I am also the founder and executive director of the Building Behaviors Autism Center, which has received numerous grants to provide free and reduced cost applied behavioral analysis services to individuals with autism.  I have written several curriculums focusing on teaching daily living skills to children with autism, published a peer-reviewed journal article supporting evidence for success of these programs (Marker, Weeks, & Kraegel, 2007), and will be publishing a new book titled The Key to Autism. I present nationally on topics of autism, disruptive behaviors disorders, anxiety, and chronic health conditions in the pediatric population and been featured in radio, television, and other media platforms in northeast Ohio.

I received my Ph.D. in School Psychology at the University of South Carolina, and completed an internship in Pediatric Psychology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at The Children’s Hospital at The Cleveland Clinic.

Marker, C.,  Weeks, M., and Kraegel, I. (2007) Journal of Psychology and Christianity.