Mikayla McKinney did not chart her path with pins and pushpoints. Her story found her another way, through conversation, curiosity, and the quiet insistence from someone who saw something in her before she had words for it herself. What began as a gentle nudge became a turn she couldn't ignore.
Before college, Mikayla knew only one thing for certain: she wanted to work with children. Teaching seemed like the obvious route, until the noise and scale of classrooms began to feel less like energy and more like static. She loved the one-on-one moments; the quiet focus, the small sparks of connection. But she was left overwhelmed by everything else. “I thought maybe it wasn’t it,” she admits. “But I still didn’t know what was.”
That uncertainty lingered until a family friend - her best friend’s mother, an Easterseals employee - suggested she apply. The idea landed softly, but stuck. She interviewed… and was hired almost immediately. It was June of 2020, when the world felt like it was unraveling, and yet, for her, something steadied. “This job was just a little light for me,” she says. “I finally felt like I had found my place.”
At Easterseals Midwest, Mikayla discovered a role that fit her like well-worn clothes: structured, but human; evidence-based, but deeply relational. As a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT), she found herself at the intersection of research and play, data and fascination. She collected numbers, of course… but also moments. She learned how to read children’s cues, how to slow her body when a room got too loud, how to be calm inside another’s storm.
While earning dual degrees in psychology and sociology, Mikayla continued working part-time, bolstered by flexible scheduling and supervisors who understood that students are people, too. She balanced classes, sessions, travel, and even a second job, not feeling punished for having a life beyond her job. “I never felt restricted,” she says. “It always felt met halfway.”
That support extended beyond scheduling. During her senior year, Easterseals opened its doors for her own research, allowing her to conduct a year-long distinction project observing how children communicated - with words, devices, sign language, and one another. What she unearthed stuck: kids meeting each other where they were, adapting instinctively and choosing connection over convenience. A moment where a child entered a classroom he didn’t usually attend and instinctually signing to communicate with a friend is something that always stands out to her. “It was really sweet,” Mikayla says, her voice soft. “They were making sure they could understand each other.”
After, her thesis explored something just as personal: language. Specifically, how professional jargon can unintentionally shut parents out of their own child’s care. She rewrote parent trainings at a sixth grade reading level, tested outcomes, and proved something she already believed: clarity is kindness. Parents didn’t only understand more but were left more empowered. Seen. Included.
Fast forward five years and Mikayla remains at Easterseals Midwest, an uncommon tenure in a role known for burnout. She has trained new RBTs, sustained families through trauma, and learned that sometimes the most powerful intervention is right in front of you. “Sometimes the best thing you can do,” she says, “is just sit there and be with them.”
As she prepares to step into her next role as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Mikayla isn’t leaving anything behind. She’s deepening her roots. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” she says with ease.
Ask her what makes Easterseals unique and it’s rather simple. It’s the culture. The way people show up for each other. The way no one is ever truly alone, between the kids, the families, and the staff. “There’s always someone listening,” she says. “Always someone ready to help.”
For Mikayla, all of it rises above just a job. It’s a place where curiosity is invited in, compassion is put to work, and quiet, steady, unmistakably real growth unfolds in front of you, day by day.
