About Our Founder

Behavioral Intervention in Autism (ABA)
Advanced Graduate Certification
University of Massachusetts-Lowell, 2011

Master of Education (M.Ed.)
Special Education, Moderate Disabilities (5-12)
Framingham State University, 2009

Bachelor of Arts Minor: Special Education
Elementary Education (K-8), Minor: Special Education
Saint Martin’s University, 2000

Board Certified Behavior Analyst, 2012

Hello, my name is Matt Woodard and I am the founder and CEO of BASICS NW. I’m a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the State of Washington. I’ve worked in the field of special education for more than 20 years, helping kids in the classroom and in residential and day treatment programs.

I was born and raised in the rural community of South Bend, near Willapa Bay on Washington’s southwest coast. My connection to this region is strong, which is why I returned home to Washington after completing my studies in Boston at Framingham State University and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.

While living on the East Coast, I became keenly aware of the high level of special education services available there compared to my home state of Washington. That divide in services was even more apparent when looking at Washington’s rural and remote areas.

This inequity is what led me to start BASICS NW in 2012 and open our first clinic in Lacey, Washington in 2013 and expand our practice throughout western Washington. We offer valuable services to families who have children with autism and we strive to improve access for families with socioeconomic and geographic barriers to quality care.

BASICS NW currently operates five clinics in Washington, in the communities of Aberdeen, Lacey, Puyallup, Raymond, and Vancouver, and serves families in seven counties. Since our founding, we’ve served more than 1,000 kids. We work with roughly 100 clients at any given time.

We are expanding our service offerings with a new Medicaid Day Program at our Vancouver location in Clark County. This day program includes speech therapy paired with ABA services. We plan to expand this program to all of our clinic locations by 2020.

We are consistently striving to improve access to services and resources for children and families who are impacted by autism. We endeavor to raise awareness across our communities and develop a network of support throughout the lifespan of those affected with developmental disabilities. BASICS NW helps everyone—kids diagnosed with autism, their families, and community members—improve their experience related to autism by providing education around what autism is and how to best meet the needs of children living with autism. We are very excited about the possibilities to benefit our communities by better supporting individuals with autism and/or related disabilities.

We seek to provide children and adolescents with learning, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges, their families, and other pertinent team members, highly-effective tools and foundational skills to improve quality of life for children with special needs and bring awareness, education, and outreach to rural and/or remote communities. We are committed to remaining current in this ever-developing field to ensure that we use the most effective and proven best practices and tools to deliver the best service to improve the lives of our clients.

BASICS NW provides effective, evidence-based behavioral intervention and educational consultation services to families and their children with special needs in western Washington State, including those in traditionally underserved rural and/or remote communities.

Matthew Woodard, M.Ed. BCBA, LBA, founded BASICS NW in 2012 to improve the quality of services for children with autism and related disorders in southwest Washington State. His passion for reaching underserved communities has led to a significant impact in many rural communities including, South Bend, Raymond, Grays Harbor County and Lewis County.

Matt has been in the field of special education for more than twenty years and has served as an educator, facilitator and board certified behavior analyst.