Vijaita Mahendra is the Head of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services at Stepping Stones Center.
She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and a Clinical Psychologist. Vijaita received her Bachelors in Psychology and English Literature from Delhi University and her Masters in Psychology from University of Essex, UK. She then returned to India to pursue her MPhil in Clinical Psychology from KMC, Manipal University, certifiying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2009.
Vijaita moved to USA in 2010 and worked in a research setting at Temple University’s Adult Anxiety Clinic, before returning to her favourite clientele, small children. She certified and worked as a Registered Behavior Technician, providing behavior analytical services in different intervention set-ups. Vijaita subsequently gained her BCBA certification in 2017. She also gained valuable experience in the school setting in the US, working as a consultant Behavior Analyst, supporting cases requiring frequent crisis intervention. She worked in a collaborative set-up, supporting school staff, with support from Behavior Technicians, to manage and reduce extreme challenging behaviors and build socio-emotional regulation skills so as to help kids better integrate in their environmental settings.
Vijaita thoroughly enjoys supporting kids by focusing on skill building, social interactions and behavior reduction goals. Since her move to India, Vijaita is supporting the implementation and dissemination of ABA services and training therapists and families with children with developmental disabilites. Her passion is to train more people in India in ABA techniques to help support the burdgeoning developmental disabilities population.