Chanina Hans Nakdimen, BCBA, LBA

Chanina "Hans" Nakdimen is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst with more than a decade of experience supporting autistic children and their families. He serves as Clinical Director of Big Heart ABA in Virginia and Imagination ABA in New Jersey, where he founded and built the clinical infrastructure of the practice from the ground up.

Hans brings a hybrid background to clinical leadership. Before earning his BCBA, he spent ten years inside special education classrooms across New Jersey and New York City. That teaching experience shapes the way he supervises clinical teams today: with the assumption that every plan has to work in real life, in real homes, with real families, not just on paper.

Every plan has to work in real life, in real homes, with real families, not just on paper.

Path to clinical leadership

Hans started his career as a special education teacher, working one-on-one with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and designing behavior management programs in school settings. He held roles at the SCHI School in Lakewood, NJ, Tender Touch Educational Services, and the New York City Department of Education, providing direct instruction across reading, mathematics, and behavior intervention.

In 2022 he completed BCBA certification through Daemen College and joined Connect Plus Services as a full Behavior Analyst, conducting Functional Behavior Assessments and writing individualized treatment plans. A year later, in 2023, he founded Imagination ABA Therapy LLC and stepped into the Clinical Director role, building out clinical and operational infrastructure for assessment, treatment planning, supervision, billing, and compliance with Medicaid and commercial insurance.

From 2018 through 2024, Hans served as a member of the Lakewood, New Jersey Board of Education. In that role he helped approve budgets, develop policies, and allocate resources to support student outcomes. That public-service experience informs how he thinks about systems-level support for autistic students and the families navigating school, insurance, and medical care at the same time.

Education

• BCBA Task List Completion, Daemen College, Amherst, NY, 2021
• M.S. Special Education, Daemen College, Amherst, NY, 2016
• B.A. Political Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 2011

Certifications and licensure

• Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)
• Licensed Behavior Analyst, New Jersey (NJ-LBA)
• Licensed Behavior Analyst, New York (NY-LBA)
• Standard, Teacher of Students with Disabilities
• Standard, Elementary School Teacher (Grades K to 6)
• Standard, Teacher of Supplemental Instruction: Reading and Mathematics (Grades K to 8)
• Professional Crisis Management Association P2 (2017 to 2021)

Selected experience

• Clinical Director, Big Heart ABA, Virginia. Clinical leadership for in-home ABA across the Commonwealth.
• Clinical Director and Founder, Imagination ABA Therapy LLC, Lakewood, NJ, 2023 to present. Built clinical and operational infrastructure for assessment, treatment planning, supervision, billing, and compliance with Medicaid and commercial insurance requirements.
• Behavior Analyst, Connect Plus Services, Lakewood, NJ, 2022 to present. Conducts FBAs, develops individualized treatment plans, trains paraprofessional staff.
• Special Education Teacher and Provider, multiple schools and agencies in NJ and NYC, 2012 to 2022. Direct service across SCHI School, Tender Touch Educational Services, and NYC DOE.
• Board Member, Lakewood Board of Education, 2018 to 2024.

What Hans reviews on this site

Articles on bigheartva.com that carry the byline "Reviewed by Chanina Hans Nakdimen, BCBA, LBA" have been read and edited for clinical accuracy and adherence to current ethical standards in ABA practice. The goal is plain-English explanation that respects autistic children, their families, and the clinical evidence behind ABA. If you ever spot something that reads off, please tell us. We update articles when the evidence updates.

Outside of work, Hans is a husband and father of four. He cares deeply about meeting families where they are, treating parents as partners, and making the path to good ABA care less confusing for everyone involved.