At Waverly, we provide a variety of services under the ABA/Behavior Therapy umbrella. Services range from focused Behavior Therapy to increase specific positive behaviors or social/learning skills to early intensive ABA. We also provide evaluations, parent support therapy and school consultation. All of our services are built on the following principles:
High level of expertise: all of our therapists are highly experienced and supervision by the Director is built into every program
Eclectic/Naturalistic approach: we emphasize the importance of a relationship with your child and facilitate fun and typical interactions throughout therapy
Family Focused: parents are integral members of our Team
Ensure Success: we make sure we build a program so that a child can experience success. We always say, “success begets success.”
Fun: Our goal is to make every child fall in love with learning
BEHAVIOR THERAPY/BEHAVIOR CONNECTIONS CLINIC
Behavior Therapy is a collaborative process that identifies specific goals for increasing a child's positive behaviors and decreasing challenging behavior. Our focus is on teaching skill development (language, play, pro social behaviors) to replace challenging behaviors. We work with your child to successfully establish these skills in session while simultaneously working with parents to learn strategies for home.
INTENSIVE ABA
ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is recognized as the “gold standard” for autism intervention. At Waverly Group, our ABA is known for being “fun and social” while staying true to the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis. One parent described Waverly as “ABA with HEART”. Alisa Rohdie, the Director of the program, has over 25 years of experience developing programs for children with autism and is known for her unique, child-specific programming. Through intensive services, we work on all areas of your child’s development including communication skills, social interactions, play skills. cognitive/academic skills, school readiness and independent learning. A highly individualized learning program is developed for each child to ensure significant and meaningful developmental gains for your child.
Our intensive ABA programs are based upon an Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) model and therefore are designed for children under the age of five. Research shows that children starting before the age of two are likely to make the most significant gains. All of our students in intensive ABA attend local community preschools (with a therapist/shadow from his/her team) in order to access typically developing peers. Due to the comprehensive nature of our intensive ABA program, we are only able to accept a few students each year.
SHADOWS
Our highly trained shadows provide children with support to ensure success in the school or camp setting. Shadows assist with behavior, social interactions, play, and academics, as needed. For each student, we develop highly individualized school goals with the ultimate objective of fading support as we build your child’s independence. Waverly shadows are known for their high degree of professionalism and respect for confidentiality. We partner with schools and parents to ensure a positive experience for all.
SCHOOL CONSULTATION / EVALUATIONS
We provide school consultations to assist in Program Development to meet the learning and behavioral needs of students. We work closely with school teams to develop behavior and educational plans and provide ongoing support as needed. We have worked in public, private, and specialized schools, and when possible, we provide distance consultation.
A variety of evaluations are offered to support and/or evaluate school programs. Program Evaluations are conducted to determine if your child’s educational program is appropriately meeting his/her academic and social needs. Our Board Certified Behavior Analysts also collaborate with other professionals within Waverly to conduct multi-disciplinary evaluations and Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE). We also consult to teams to facilitate and review Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) and related Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP).
SOCIAL SKILLS GROUPS
We offer a variety of Social Skills groups throughout the year. All groups are led by our behavior therapists in collaboration with Waverly psychologists and/or speech-language therapists. Groups are designed to blend individualized goals with social-cognition curriculum. Currently, social skills groups are available only to current Waverly clients to ensure placement with appropriate peers.