The company’s founders have more than 100 years of collective travel industry experience. They also have special needs children and understand first-hand what precautions are necessary to create a safe and enjoyable space for individuals with ASD while travelling.
The Executive Team
Founder and CEO Alan Day is a highly experienced travel agent. He began his career with Liberty Travel in 1999 and then, in 2005, on moving to Connecticut he formed his own travel agency.
Alan’s son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and, based on the challenges Autism presented on their own family vacations, Alan decided to refocus his agency and specialize in helping the countless families similarly impacted by Autism. For this purpose, he founded ‘ASD Vacations’ as a unique agency to serve such families.
Alan also produced a unique program called ‘Magic for Autism’ that enabled groups of families to travel together with support at every step of the way: at airports, onboard flights, on arrival and at the hotel or resort. To facilitate this Alan recognized a desperate need to improve service providers’ understanding of ASD and prepare them to assist parents: Thus ‘Autism Double-Checked’ was born and now provides that training solution.
Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, David M. Tait OBE has spent his career in commercial aviation, where he has worked closely with several of the industry’s greatest innovators.
After working with the legendary Sir Freddie Laker, in late 1983 David joined Richard Branson in crafting the business plan for what would become Virgin Atlantic Airways. The upstart airline began service in mid-1984 between London and New York with a single Boeing 747 and David spent two decades in NYC as Executive Director and EVP, building the critically acclaimed carrier to over $4 billion in annual revenues.
In 2001 Queen Elizabeth II awarded David an OBE (Officer of the Order of The British Empire) for “Services to British aviation in the USA”.
A Connecticut resident, Tait holds UK, US, and Canadian citizenships. He is now a company director, travel columnist, aviation consultant and published author.
The Community and Academic Team
Jennifer earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology and a Masters in Education from UMass Amherst.
Her early career was dedicated to special education in early Intervention with children who had developmental disabilities including autism. Jennifer the took the role of Director of Autism Services for the Charles River Center, a non-profit in Needham, MA.
In 2010, in collaboration with Boston’s Logan Airport and Charles River Center, Jennifer developed ‘Wings for Autism’ (WFA) – a program that allows children with autism and related disabilities to practice the airport experience. To date WFA has served many thousands of children and has expanded to over 30 airports.
Jennifer currently works as Director of District Services for Crest Collaborative in Methuen, MA. She serves as a senior consultant for Autism Double-Checked and still runs WFA events in the New England Area.
Michelle earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology from NYU and a Masters in Applied Behavior Analysis from Northeastern University. She currently works in private practice as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst and also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member for Bay Path University’s Applied Behavior Analysis graduate degree program.
She has 10 years of experience working with children with autism in school, community, home, and center-based capacities. In addition, she has previously worked in Early Intervention with toddlers with a diagnosis of autism and those with disruptive behaviors and/or developmental delays, in addition to working with adolescents and adults on the spectrum to increase daily living skills. She serves as a senior consultant for Autism Double-Checked and provides translation services for content in Spanish.
O, si lo prefieres
Michelle tiene su Bachiler en psicología del NYU y una Maestría en análisis de comportamiento aplicado del Northeastern University. Actualmente, ella trabaja en consultorio privado como analista de comportamiento aplicado y también es profesora en el Bay Path University para el programa de Maestría del departamento del análisis de comportamiento aplicado.
Ella tiene 10 años de experiencia trabajando con niños con autismo en los colegios, comunidades, hogares, y en agencias. Adicionalmente, antes trabajaba en intervención temprana con niños pequeños con el diagnóstico del autismo y los que tienen comportamientos inapropriados y/o retrasos del desarrollo. También ha trabajado con adolescentes y adultos con autismo en aumentar habilidades de la vida diaria. Ella es consultatora senior para Autism Double-Checked y sirve como traductora del contenido en español.
Roger J. Jou MD, MPH, PhD is a psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in autism across the lifespan, working exclusively with children, adolescents, and adults on the autism spectrum. He routinely conducts psychiatric evaluations / consultations and provides ongoing clinical care in the form of pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, counseling, and mentoring. Dr. Jou favors multiple simultaneous approaches to intervention involving interactions beyond the traditional dyad. To this end, he has developed and incorporated a free online community and resource called Project CASY (Community Autism Socials at Yale), providing social-recreation, education, and support groups for the Connecticut autism community. With over 15 years of autism-related experience, he has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Jou’s autism research is currently focused on clinical trials, novel biological and psychosocial interventions, and studying neuroanatomical diversity using MRI technology. He is the recipient of a dozen honors and awards while completing an autism-focused clinical and research fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center (New Haven, CT) where he remains on faculty and active member of Connecticut’s autism community.
