Meet the Founder

Ms. Kathleen O’Halloran is the CEO and founder of Celo Learning. She leads our interagency collaboration efforts, actively contributes to the Celo Voices program, and continues to facilitate all aspects of our signature initiative, Celo Launch.

A dynamic and mission-driven executive leader, Ms. O’Halloran remains deeply committed to students and families. She continues to provide direct support through public education and private practice, offering individualized education and development guidance to Celo Launch graduates. She also plays an active role in expanding the Celo Gateway Network and the community it connects.

Link to Book

Celo Gateway

Ms. O’Halloran created Celo Gateway to ensure students have lasting access to the connections and support they need beyond her classroom. She often paints the vision of students becoming their own case managers—capable of building and navigating their own networks of care. She is profoundly grateful to all who offer visibility and belonging, knowing that even small acts of inclusion can give her students hope—and make that hope concrete.

Network Overview

All parts of our system are joined by one pledge. We agree to receive and reciprocate communication with any Celo Launch graduate who initiates.

"Our vision is a world where individuals with autism and social communication support needs can openly share who they are—and be met with authentic welcome and reciprocal response through social interactions grounded in dignity, clarity, and care."

Structure
Individuals or businesses may join the network by taking the pledge.
Directory
Names are shared within the network only. Graduates of Celo Launch receive network contact information (email and phone) after completing the program and choose if, when, and how to initiate contact. We honor every graduate’s right to agency, autonomy, and consent.
Key
For many autistic individuals, abstract social rules are inconsistent, exhausting, or unclear. The Gateway Key replaces that ambiguity with clarity, structure, and autonomy. It allows graduates to identify themselves and initiate interaction with confidence—without guesswork or hidden social expectations. Graduates receive a Gateway Key at their Celo Launch ceremony. It serves as both a symbolic token and a concrete support for executive function—particularly in the areas of initiation, motivation, and social regulation.
Norms
The systematic agreement to future reciprocal communication is a powerful strategy: it gives students the motivation and structure they need now to practice real-world connection with explicitly agreed upon social safely. All who take the pledge receive complimentary orientation to better understand how to engage with neurodiverse individuals with social engagement differences and build inclusive, respectful communication practices. We also offer custom professional development by request.
Collaborative
The Celo Voices Committee—a group of neurodiverse young adults, including autistic youth—actively shapes and updates the preferred communication frameworks used across the network. As new evidence-based strategies emerge, they are reviewed and shared through the Celo Learning Consultancy Group.

Why Reciprocal Communication Matters

This pledge brings us back to the basics of building a conversation. Reciprocal communication seems simple. And yet, from the perspective of society and human behavior, reciprocal communication is profoundly complex—with far-reaching implications for connection, equity, and inclusion. Kathleen O’Halloran offers talks and trainings on the practical application and transformative potential of this model, grounded in instructional strategies she has implemented and found to be life-changing for her students. Drawing on deep expertise in both classroom practice and systems-level leadership, Ms. O’Halloran supports schools, communities, and institutions in understanding how this simple commitment is an individual learning strategy that can scale —creating lasting, inclusive change, with organizational learning impact. Through her talk on Greetings, Ms. O’Halloran speaks to the science, systems, and inspirations behind this vision. She emphasizes that the simple act of being seen and acknowledged can be the first step toward lifelong self-advocacy, healing, and connection.

“Systematic social agreement to future reciprocal conversation has present-day impact on the behavioral health of my students—and their engagement, representation, action, and expression—today.”

Celo Gateway Growth

The Celo Gateway network is a growing constellation of possibility—comprised of service providers, potential employers, policy teams, and community allies who believe in the power of inclusion and reciprocal support.

A data-driven and deeply compassionate educator, Ms. O’Halloran brings her full network into the modeling process. By illuminating real-world systems that support social interaction, she not only demonstrates best practices for institutional adoption—especially across the student success lifecycle—but also gives students with autism what many crave most: clarity, consistency, and meaningful connection.

When students see that these systems—designed with them in mind—exist beyond the classroom, they gain motivation to persevere and begin to envision a future where they truly belong.

Students

Imagine a world where individuals with autism and social communication support needs can share who they are, express in the ways they are able and be responded to with dignity, clarity, and care. Your role is this simple, but powerful: show up and share who you are whenever you feel ready.