EARLY LEARNERS
OUR program
Our Early Learner Program is specifically designed to give young children, ages 18 months to 6 years old, a jump start in acquiring meaningful communication and critical skills that provide a foundation for lifelong learning.
This program's approach is rooted in Applied "Verbal" Behavior Analysis, which focuses intensely on teaching functional communication and independence across environments and works directly with the child's motivation. Our effective combination of integrated natural environment strategies and 1:1 intensive structured intervention create an optimal treatment environment. Primary areas of concentration include improving initiation/functional communication, joint attention and engagement, imitation skills, reciprocity and social language, imaginative and productive play, as well as discrimination of both visual and auditory stimuli. The goal of the program is to prepare our early learners for lifelong learning; in essence, for children to learn how to learn.
EL Program Logistics
The Intensive Early Learner Program provides 15-25 hours of direct intervention per week. We offer flexible morning sessions, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8:00am and 11:30am or flexible afternoon sessions, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 12:30pm and 4:30pm. Each family can choose a set schedule within our available session times. Clients are seen 1:1, both for solo or group activities. *Throughout the year, several typically developing peers are included in sessions for peer modeling and socialization and are not included in the 1:1 ratio.
Our program is unique and a great value because intervention is supervised daily by a board certified behavior analyst. Our team of professionals are highly qualified with extensive training and experience in the field of autism. Our Early Learner Program provides your child with high quality, individualized programming, ongoing training/supervision of behavior technicians, and treatment materials.
Early Intervention is your child's best hope for the future
Early attention to improving the core behavioral symptoms of autism will give your child - and the rest of your family - several important benefits that you will not gain if you take a wait-and-see approach until your child enters school at age four or five. A good early intervention program has at least four benefits:
- It will provide your child with instruction that will build on his or her strengths to teach new skills, improve behaviors, and remediate areas of weakness.
- It will provide you with information that will help you better understand your child's behavior and needs.
- It will offer resources, support, and training that will enable you to work and play with your child more effectively.
- It will improve the outcome for your child.
For these reasons, an intervention program for your child should be implemented as soon as possible after he or she receives a diagnosis.