Early intervention for children on the Autism spectrum can make all the difference for them as they continue to grow and change. Our founder, Robin Stone, and the rest of the team of Innovative Behavior Options are all trained in working with younger children to help benefit them in ways that can improve their learning both in and out of the classroom.
Technically, early intervention is ages 0-3, however, our team has had great success working with children intensively up through age 6.
How do Children Benefit From Early Intervention
Early intervention therapy takes advantage of early development for language skills. There are opportunities within a child’s home environment, daycare, and community to work on communication skills, allowing them to practice these new skills in the comfort of their everyday environments.
We recommend that parents receive an early diagnosis so that your child can have access to services at a younger age to improve his or her overall outcome. The earlier you register your child for ABA (also known as Applied Behavior Analysis) Therapy, the earlier parents, siblings, teachers and other people who help make up the individuals in their daily environments will begin to see change in behavior.
Early Intervention: How to Get Started
While many children have the skills to learn naturally from other individuals and their environment without intervention, children who have learning, developmental or behavior issues may have difficulty learning, and learn less from their environment than their peers.
Children with these learning, developmental and behavioral issues often require a structured environment where they have opportunities to learn and practice the same fundamental skills that other children may pick up naturally. ABA therapy sessions create this type of environment for them by teaching them how to learn.
Through the help of certified BCBA therapists, ABA is used to help children develop basic skills like listening and imitating, as well as more complex skills such as reading and carrying on conversations. ABA therapy also decreases behaviors that interfere with learning, including disruption other students by making noises or touching them, talking out of turn, being out of the seat without permission, and not paying attention.
Children can get started with an intimate, diagnostic evaluation from a licensed child psychologist or a developmental pediatrician. Innovative Behavior Options offers skill-based assessments to determine the prerequisite skills the child needs to first master in order to learn the overall desired skill area.
The earlier a parent enrolls a child into early intervention sessions, the better the chances are that the child will make larger gains in communication skills. If you’re interested in learning more about how our team of therapists can help your child, please contact our office.