Jill C. Battersby, M.S., BCBA, LBA
Jill C. Battersby is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Behavior Analyst in Tennessee with more than 25 years of experience supporting children, adults, and families across home, school, clinic, community, and other everyday settings.
Her interest in this work began long before she became a clinician. As a teenager, Jill volunteered at a summer recreation program where she met a young autistic boy. She found herself curious about how he experienced the world, how he communicated, what captured his attention, and what made him light up. That curiosity became the beginning of a career centered on understanding how people learn, communicate, participate, and connect.
Over the course of her career, Jill has worked in a wide range of roles, including clinician, clinical director, program developer, and business owner. Those experiences have given her a broad perspective on both the possibilities of good support and the challenges families can encounter when services become more focused on a program than on the person.
One lesson has stayed with her: support has to make sense in the context of a person’s actual life.
A strategy that looks good on paper is not particularly useful if it cannot survive a busy morning, a family routine, a classroom, a trip to the grocery store, or an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. Jill believes the most meaningful learning happens when skills are connected to the places, people, activities, and relationships that matter to the individual and their family.
That belief shapes the way she works with families. Jill enjoys taking complex information and turning it into something understandable and usable—clear routines, practical strategies, meaningful learning opportunities, and materials that make sense for the people who will actually use them. She helps caregivers recognize opportunities for communication, play, connection, learning, and independence that are already part of everyday life.
Just as important, Jill believes families deserve an honest partnership. She wants caregivers to understand not only what is being recommended, but why. She will tell you what she knows, what she does not know, and when the evidence does not provide a clear answer. If something is not working, she believes it is important to say so, look carefully at what may be getting in the way, and determine what should change.
Her approach is evidence-informed and neurodiversity-affirming, drawing from behavioral science, developmental approaches, and educational research. The goal is to support meaningful skills, communication, participation, autonomy, and quality of life while respecting each child’s strengths, interests, needs, and values.