Leap Ahead's mission is to improve the lives of individuals with autism and their families through innovative educational programs. Our programs are supervised by a BCBA and are specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of our clients to assure they reach their highest potential of independence within their lives. We offer morning, afternoon and full day options at our Little Leaps Preschool, parent coaching via our Autism Answers program and multiple session options for our summer camp. Leap Ahead was founded by Talisha Sachlis in 2002 and is dedicated to the child who inspired her career path and company, Connor Leap. Mrs. Sachlis was in the process of pursuing a profession with the FBI in 1999 when she stumbled across an ad requesting a therapist for a woman’s son who was diagnosed with autism. Not familiar with autism, Mrs. Sachlis became intrigued to find out more about this disability and began to research the autism spectrum disorder and the therapies associated with it. Her findings interested her to apply to the ad two days later and subsequently observe an ABA session with the mother’s son, Connor Leap. Within a week, Mrs. Sachlis declined her original career path. During the next few years, Mrs. Sachlis worked for Fairfax County Public Schools in their ABA Pilot Program. She also provided ABA Therapy for private families after her full-time job to gain additional experience. After a few years, the ABA Pilot Program ended and Mrs. Sachlis initiated her own practice serving children with autism and other developmental disabilities utilizing ABA Therapy.