Kerry Mataya, M.S.Ed.

Kerry Mataya, M.S.Ed.

Executive Director

Kerry Mataya has a deep love for Bridgeway Services because of the individual clients and families represented. Whereas many service providers and teachers are only able to follow a student for a short period of time, she desires to follow a student for life. She is outcome-driven with the desire to see each student become more successful in cognitive thinking, socialization, emotional understanding, communication, conversation, friendships, problem solving, perspective taking, behavior, academics, self-awareness, self-regulation, executive functioning, and sports. Having created her own program for most of those areas, Kerry enjoys systemizing learning for high functioning learners with ASD. With a Master's Degree in Education with emphasis in Autism and Asperger Syndrome coursework from the University of Kansas in August 2003 under Dr. Brenda Smith Myles, Kerry has specific training on how to really understand the thinking and learning process for high functioning individuals with ASD. As a consultant, Kerry develops individualized and group programs in Birmingham, AL and surrounding areas where the client with HF-ASD is always the center of the program. Co-author of Successful Problem Solving and Talk with MeKerry has presented at numerous conferences and school workshops internationally. She is also the founder of EVOLVE and Asperger Connection. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her two children, Mark and Ava Kate, spending time with friends and family, attending Church of the Highlands Grandview campus, traveling, reading, and doing most anything outdoors. 

Sicili Cantavespre

Sicili Cantavespre

Communications Director

Sicili Cantavespre is a parent of a charming 6 year-old son with HF-ASD. In 2016, she was persistent in getting her son into Bridgeway Services for our after-school social groups, and we are sure glad that she did. A combination of her positive energy, ability to advocate for her son's needs, and consistent social media posts attracted our attention. Sicili first worked for us as our registered nurse during our overnight camp in July 2017. Although she is a registered nurse by trade, she has agreed to join Team Bridgeway as our Communications Director. She enjoys being a mom, yoga, and cooking. In her words, "I love making people laugh, loving with all that I have, and finding the gifts in every day!"

Hollis Shaffer

Hollis Shaffer

HF-ASD Consultant

Hollis Shaffer is well-loved by many of our clients and families at Bridgeway Services. He's been around for many years and has been the reason why several of our students are doing as well as they are today. Hollis derives a lot of happiness from helping others and seeing students with HF-ASD become the person that God has created them to be. As a junior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Hollis is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in psychology and a career assisting students with HF-ASD. He currently works with Bridgeway Services as an assistant and small group leader during our after-school social groups assisting students with HF-ASD in areas such as conversation, team-building activities, group behavior, and sports. He began working for Bridgeway as an Overnight Camp Counselor during May 2013, but his position has continued to grow. He is a co-author of Talk with Me: A Step-by-Step Conversation Framework for Teaching Conversational Balance and Fluency for High Functioning Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Additionally, Hollis is currently working on several writing projects and has spoken at numerous conferences around the United States. In addition to working for Bridgeway Services, Hollis enjoys rock climbing, playing chess, Church of the Highlands, reading, and hanging out with his brothers and friends. He plans to continue leading a small group bible study for male teens and college students each Spring semester. 

Summer Staff

Summer Staff

We are blessed with incredible staff every summer. Many of our staff are repeats from year to year and we are grateful for their continued understanding of our clients. We are always looking for great staff to join our summer team - guys and girls. We do look for a very specific person that possesses the right amount of leadership, confidence, understanding, and intelligence that our Bridgeway clients expect from our staff. This position will be filled by individuals that have the ability to work with our high functioning clients with ASD. People skills and patience is a must! Please contact Kerry Mataya if you are interested in working with Bridgeway during Summer 2018. We do not have the ability to employ new staff full-time during the summer, so please do not apply if you are looking for a full-time position.