Empowering Families

Comprehensive ABA Therapy Programs at Pierce ABA

We are dedicated to providing comprehensive and individualized Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to support children across various developmental stages. Our center offers two primary, highly structured programs designed to meet the unique needs of different age groups: a full-day early intervention service and an after-school ABA therapy program.Full-Day Early Intervention Program (Ages 2 to 6)

Day Program

Our full-day program is specifically tailored for preschool-aged children, focusing intensively on developing the critical foundational skills necessary for successful transition into a traditional school setting. The goal is to build school readiness through a holistic approach encompassing:

• School Readiness: Developing foundational academic and group-learning behaviors, such as following classroom routines, sitting for instruction, and attending to tasks.

• Communication: Fostering both the ability to understand others (Receptive Communication) and the ability to express wants, needs, and ideas (Expressive Communication). This includes picture exchange systems, verbal communication, and other functional communication methods.

• Social Interaction: Teaching essential social skills, including sharing, taking turns, initiating play, responding to peers, and navigating complex social situations.

• Motor Development: Enhancing Fine Motor Skills necessary for writing, drawing, and independent dressing, and integrating gross motor activities.

• Self-Care & Independence: Building crucial Personal Self-Care and independence skills, notably Potty Training and basic dressing routines.

After-School ABA Therapy Program (Ages 5 to 12)

This program is designed to complement the school day, providing targeted behavioral support for elementary and middle school-aged children. The focus shifts toward improving social competence, emotional management, and adaptive behaviors within a peer group context. The experienced team guides structured activities to help school-aged children:

• Build Confidence: Developing a stronger sense of self-efficacy in social and academic settings.

• Strengthen Peer Relationships: Practicing and generalizing Social Skills within a group setting, promoting positive and meaningful interactions with others.

• Improve Emotional Regulation and Executive Functioning: Teaching effective Coping Strategies and skills for Self-Managing Emotions to replace challenging behaviors.

• Enhance Daily Living Skills: Mastering complex Daily Living Skills and multi-step tasks, such as managing homework, following complex Multi-Step Directions, basic household chores, and personal hygiene routines.

Key Skills and Focus Areas Addressed Across All Programs:

1. Communication: Receptive Communication: The ability to understand language, including following simple and complex instructions, comprehending spoken and written words, identifying objects and pictures, and understanding non-verbal cues (e.g., facial expressions, gestures). Expressive Communication: The ability to use language to convey thoughts, needs, and desires. This encompasses verbal communication (e.g., speech clarity, vocabulary use, sentence structure, pragmatic language skills like turn-taking and topic maintenance) and non-verbal communication (e.g., using sign language, Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS), or other Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices).

2. Toilet Training: Focuses on establishing independence and appropriate habits related to bladder and bowel control. This includes recognizing and communicating the need to use the toilet, managing clothing, correctly using the toilet facility, and maintaining hygiene (e.g., handwashing).

3. Social Skills: The development of interpersonal abilities necessary for successful social interaction. Key areas include initiating and maintaining peer interactions, sharing, turn-taking during play or activities, understanding and respecting personal boundaries, responding appropriately to social cues, making and sustaining friendships, and conflict resolution.

4.  Coping Strategies: Teaching and practicing functional, adaptive behaviors for managing stress, frustration, anxiety, and challenging situations. This involves identifying triggers, utilizing self-regulation techniques (e.g., deep breathing, using a break space, sensory regulation), seeking appropriate support, and developing problem-solving skills.

5. Daily Living Skills (Personal Self-Care): Essential skills required for independent living and personal maintenance. These include, but are not limited to, dressing and undressing (fasteners, appropriate attire), personal hygiene (showering, brushing teeth, hair care), grooming, meal preparation (simple snacks to full meals), and performing household chores.

6.  Fine Motor Skills: The coordination of small muscles, typically in the hands and fingers, in conjunction with the eyes. Focus areas include grasping and manipulating objects, handwriting and drawing, cutting with scissors, using utensils, manipulating small items (e.g., beads, puzzle pieces), and fastening clothing (e.g., buttons, zippers, tying shoelaces).

7. Academic Achievement: Encompasses the acquisition of foundational and advanced educational skills. This typically covers literacy (e.g., phonics, reading comprehension, written expression), numeracy (e.g., counting, basic arithmetic, problem-solving), understanding concepts across various subjects (e.g., science, history), and executive functioning skills critical for learning (e.g., planning, organization, time management).

8.  Emotional Regulation: The ability to monitor, evaluate, and modify the intensity and duration of one's emotional responses to meet the demands of a situation. This involves recognizing one's own emotions and the emotions of others, understanding the connection between thoughts and feelings, and employing learned strategies to manage emotional states in a healthy and adaptive manner.

9. Challenging Behaviors: Systematic assessment and reduction of behaviors that interfere with learning, social interaction, or safety. This process involves conducting a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) to identify the function (or purpose) of the behavior, followed by the development and implementation of a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) that emphasizes teaching replacement behaviors, environmental modifications, and positive reinforcement.

10. Following Multi-step Directions: The specific cognitive skill of processing, retaining, and executing a sequence of two or more instructions in the correct order without prompts or assistance. This skill is fundamental for academic success, vocational tasks, and daily routines, requiring strong working memory and focused attention.