"It is a great honor to be selected," Walker says. "I hope my children and the children I have impacted see me as such."

Walker first learned of the autism center when she moved to the Bay Area from San Diego in 1977 and looked for an institution that she hoped could give her autistic son, Kamal, the support he needed.

Her search brought her to the Sunnyvale-based Pacific Autism Center of Education, a nonprofit organization for people diagnosed with autism. She became the center's director in July of 2000.

Walker says being a parent of an autistic child made communication with the other parents easier.

"I go through the daily challenges they are going through," she says.

Kamal was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old. Walker was angry when a speech therapist told her Kamal's speech delay might be caused by autism. As a psychologist, Walker had worked with children with different types of disabilities. But it was still hard for her to accept that her own son was autistic.

"My first image of an autistic child was a child rocking back and forth, a child who couldn't give or receive any input," Walker says. "Kamal was not like that. I didn't know then that autism is a spectrum disorder."

Determined to help her son, Walker obtained special education training. She also worked closely with Kamal's teacher at the autism center. The center proved to be a good environment for her son.

"A speech therapist once told me Kamal couldn't talk, but now he talks all the time and is good at spelling," Walker says. "Although he still needs to know how to stand properly, he has made great progress during the past five years."

Walker believes education is the best thing she can give to children.

Her faith in education came from her mother. Her mother was born in Memphis, Tenn., the seventh of 13 children.

"My mother got her high school diploma when I was in sixth grade, and she eventually finished her college education," Walker says. "She consistently pushed us to study hard. She is my role model."

Walker's babysitter, who is illiterate, told her every day from the time she was 6 years old that she was going to college and would receive a doctorate one day.

Walker didn't disappoint them. She graduated from United States International University with a doctorate in psychology. She then earned five educational specialist credentials.

"I love working with children," Walker says. "I feel I am helping them build a foundation."

Preparing children for the future is especially important for children with a disability. So when she was at the autism center, she made the design of the vocational program as her top priority.

"As our children grow older, we want to make sure they can be contributing members of society," Walker says.

The vocational program is running successfully. Five of the center's students are working at local shops.

"It is a tough job to meet the different needs of the parents and students," says Mary Cater, an administrative assistant who has worked at the center for seven years. "But Dr. Walker is always strong and full of energy. She just has this positive attitude and tries to solve problems."

Despite her accomplishments at PACE, Walker left the center in December of 2002 to start a private practice. She will work with at-risk children and children with disabilities.

"I want to help children search within themselves to find their identity," Walker says. "I am going to give them some tools and the strategies they can use to be successful."