Meet The Team
Alyssa Perala
M.A., BCBA
Chief Executive Officer and President Board Certified Behavior Analyst
Ashley Roberts
MSW, LICSW
Clinical Supervisor
Licensed Independent Clinical
Social Worker
Alexis Leach
M.S., BCBA
Clinical Director/ABA Program Manager (Plymouth)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
Heidi Tousignant
M.A., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
SLP/OT Department Supervisor
Kim Buller
MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP
Human Resource &
Scheduling Manager
Rebecca Knight
M.S., BCBA
ABA Program Manager (Plymouth)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst

Lexie Freeman
M.S., MHP
ABA Program Manager (Baxter)
Jennifer Hamberg
M.A., BCBA
ABA Program Manager (Rogers)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
Lyndsey Frogner
M.A., BCBA
Assistant ABA Program Manager (Rogers)
Board Certified Behavior Analyst
Autism Matters has up to 50 professionals dedicated to the mission of treating children and focusing on making our clients as successful as possible in a variety of settings. Autism Matters is an approved worksite by the Florida Institute of Technology's (FIT) graduate program in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). This approval ensures that our clients are receiving proper ABA treatment under the direction of Board Certified Behavior Analysts who possess the appropriate clinical knowledge.


Staff Positions
Administrative Department
(HR, Scheduling, Receptions, Intake Coordinator)
All administrative employees are trained to assist the clinical teams and families with any questions, concerns, or needs that may arise day to day.
ABA Therapy Program (Clinical Supervisor, Clinical Director, ABA Program Managers, Program Coordinators, Team Trainers, Lead Therapists and Behavioral Therapists.)
All behavior therapy employees qualify as Mental Health Practitioners (MHP) in the state of Minnesota and have been trained by professionals with decades of collective experience in programming. Within the MHP qualifications, employees may have other qualifications such as being a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) or a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT). Besides being MHP qualified, Autism Matters has Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) on-site at each location to help oversee the ABA/VB program.
Speech-Language Pathologists and Occupational Therapists
All Speech-Language Pathologists and Occupational Therapists are licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health, nationally certified, and members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) or the American Occupational Therapy Associations (AOTA).