Editorial Standards

Dr. Scyatta A. Wallace

Expert Reviewer, Child and Adolescent Development

Dr. Wallace is a nationally recognized psychologist and career readiness expert, and the CEO and founder of Janisaw Company, which builds career readiness, workforce development and leadership programs for women, girls and underrepresented groups. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Fordham University, where she specialized in child and adolescent development.

Her research on teen health was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and she was named an NIH Health Disparities Scholar. She received the Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division of Psychology and Women and served as a tenured Associate Professor of Psychology. She has chaired the APA Committee on Psychology and AIDS and served on the African American Scholars Working Group at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Her expertise has been featured in Time, ABC News, CNN, BET, U.S. News & World Report and Essence. Learn more at scyattawallace.com.

Alisha Simpson-Watt, LCSW, BCBA, LBA

Clinical Reviewer, Autism, Behavior and Development

Alisha is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Behavior Analyst, and the Executive Clinical Director and Founder of Collaborative ABA Services, LLC, a woman-owned practice that grew from in-home therapy into clinic-, school- and community-based care for children with autism and other developmental and behavioral needs. The practice holds Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) accreditation.

Her career spans the many settings in which children and families live, learn and grow. She has worked as a family service worker supporting families of children from birth to age five, an intensive in-home child and adolescent psychiatric clinician, and a school social worker. She is also a Certified School Social Worker with certification in Educational Leadership as a School Intermediate Administrator.

Collaborative ABA Services was named the 2023 Connecticut Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration and received a Silver Stevie® Award for Achievement in Growth in 2024. CXO Outlook Magazine named Alisha a Most Inspiring Business Woman of 2024. In 2025, Collaborative ABA Services received a Silver Stevie® Award in the Women in Business category for Social Good. In March 2026, Alisha was featured in Authority Magazine’s Social Impact Authors series, published on Medium.

Alisha is also the author of It’s Okay, Mattie: A Story About Autism, Big Feelings, and Learning to Cope, a children’s book that promotes self-acceptance, emotional regulation and understanding neurodiversity. She trains parents, caregivers and providers on autism, behavior and mental health, and writes our Spectrum & Soul column. Learn more about her clinical work at Collaborative ABA Services and her work to improve access to developmental and behavioral health services at CollabWait.