Shirley Cohen earned a PhD in developmental psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She worked as a kindergarten and first grade teacher, a remedial reading teacher, and a teacher of autistic children before becoming a faculty member at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY.) She retired from the college as Professor Emerita in 2011. Professor Cohen is the author of several books in the area of disability including Special People, Prentice Hall, 1977; Respite Care, PRO-Ed, 1985; and Targeting Autism, 3rd edition, University of California Press, 2006. She also co-edited the original edition of the ASD Nest Model, published by AAPC in 2013. From 2001-2013 Dr. Cohen worked with colleagues from New York University and Hunter College to develop the ASD Nest program serving students in NYC public schools and directed city, state, federal, and foundation grants. Allison Graham Brown is the Executive Director of the Nest Support Project at New York University (NYU) in the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. Allison earned a BA in psychology from Ohio State University and an MEd from NYU. She has been a proud member of the Nest community since 2006, beginning as a New York City Public School special education teacher at the first Nest middle school. In 2013, Allison joined the Nest Support Project at NYU. During her tenure, she supported the launch of the Nest model in Denmark and led the development of the Nest high school model. In her role as Executive Director, she oversees all project business, partners with school leadership to enhance inclusive practices and deepen understanding of neurodiversity in schools, and leads the Support Team at NYU to enact the project vision of a world that authentically embraces its inherent neurodiversity.