The Institute’s programs provide state of the art behavioral intervention using evidence-based methodologies such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for families and children needing individualized services to improve behavioral, social and emotional functioning, and to increase students’ abilities to benefit from their academic curricula.

Services are based on a consultative model that allows the child to remain or to transition into the environment of choice while an individual behavioral plan is developed and implemented by trained professionals in the identified setting for him or her. These settings include one’s home, school, and community.

 Our service mode emphasizes:

  • Evidence-based interventions that rest on best practice standards, ongoing data collection, and evaluation of outcomes;
  • Assessment of a child’s communicative, cognitive and behavioral strengths and needs permitting individualization of a plan that is accessible and developmentally appropriate;
  • Family integration into service planning and implementation;
  • The child’s development of emotional regulation skills to ensure that s/he is able to benefit from behavioral and educational opportunities;
  • Generalization of skills to natural settings (e.g., the classroom, home, recreational resources, community);
  • Coordination with other service providers
  • Ensuring a high level of competence among The Institute’s staff through ongoing professional development and supervision;
  • The capacity to develop a continuum of care for individuals who may be transitioning from Children’s Services to adult care.

 

School Consultation

Public and private schools often need the assistance of well-qualified professionals with expertise in Applied Behavior Analysis, educational systems, and clinical-developmental psychology. The Institute’s Children’s Services offers support to schools at three levels. The director, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who is experienced in educational programming for children with special needs, and in a wide range of clinical issues as well as psychological assessment, consults directly with administrative and educational faculty. Under her direction and supervision:

  • Clinical coordinators provide consultation, develop behavior treatment plans, and analyze behavioral data;
  • Behavior specialists implement these plans within the student’s classroom and school, providing 1:1 direct support for the student.

 

Family and Home Consultation

Parents are often the first to acknowledge that their child with special needs also presents special behavioral challenges, especially when communication does not emerge smoothly at the expected times or rate of development. Applied behavior analysis (ABA), among the most successful interventions in our field, has a proven track record of success in helping parents adopt strategies that assist their children in acquiring new, more developmentally appropriate behavioral skills such as attention to task, social reciprocity, emotional self-regulation, and cooperation with the “must do” tasks of life.  ABA rests on the well-studied principle that a behavior, when reinforced (either deliberately or inadvertently), will increase and, when not reinforced will decrease. The Institute helps parents identify problem behaviors as well as behaviors to improve, and then systematically respond to those behaviors in ways that assist the child in making positive change. Parents are also helped in recognizing which aspects of their children’s environments “set the stage” for good, and not so good, behavior, and then altering those environmental settings. Children’s Services staff are available to work with family members and the child within his/her natural settings to develop, implement and monitor a treatment plan.

Coordination between Home and School

We firmly believe that the best outcomes for children are achieved when consistency and effective communication systems between home-based and school-based services exist. The Institute is well-equipped to provide coordination and consultation between these two settings. We also help build a system of communication that includes all of those involved in a child’s care who need to remain updated about that child’s progress. We regularly coordinate services among families, school, social service agencies, and medical providers when requested; this coordination often requires being flexible about where, and when, meetings are held. Parents and school personnel find this flexibility to be a unique aspect of The Institute’s school and home consultation services, and report that it helps maintain a level of individualization that benefits the child’s progress over time.

Other Consultation and Psychological Services

  • Psychological Assessment
  • Functional Behavior Assessment
  • Staff and Parent Training
  • Social Skills Training
  • Group Skills Training
  • Staff and Case Consultation
  • Data Analysis and Statistical Consultation
  • Supervision of Clinicians and Behavior Specialists
  • Service Plan development and coordination

 

Please contact Susan Sczerzenie, Ph.D., Director of Children’s Services, at The Institute at (978) 343-8392 Email ssczerzenie@ippi.org for more information about Children’s Services.