While every ABA therapy program at Inner Circle Autism Network teaches social skills, communication skills, and adaptive behaviors that can benefit children in the classroom, the school readiness component is specifically designed for families whose goals include preparing their child for school.
For parents and caregivers interested in preparing their child to enroll in school, an Inner Circle BCBA will help determine if adding a school readiness component to their ABA therapy program is right for your child. This will typically happen during your child’s initial consultation and evaluation, where our team gets to know your family to better understand your needs and goals for your child’s ABA therapy program. For parents, it serves as a reliable tool for planning and benchmarking their child’s journey and education needs.
Inner Circle parent Courtney Burns described the impact ABA therapy had on her son in less than a year with our ABA therapy program. “He goes to school every day, ready to be with his peers,” said Burns. “He’s potty-trained, he can say numbers and letters; school readiness with ABA [therapy] has really been able to help him get to that point a lot quicker than we would have been without that help.”
If school readiness is right for your child’s ABA therapy program, see what it would look like with the Inner Circle team.
The Burns Family’s Experience with ICAN ABA Therapy
How school readiness works at Inner Circle
School readiness is not a separate program itself. It is a component of ABA therapy programs for children whose goals include going to school. The goal of school readiness at Inner Circle is to prepare children for success in school, teaching them skills and adaptive behaviors that help them navigate school situations and environments with as much independence and confidence as possible.
School readiness adds routines, activities, and situations that closely resemble those found in a traditional school environment into a child’s ABA therapy program. By teaching social and communication skills and adaptive behaviors in school-like settings, children gain experience navigating the situations and expectations a typical school day brings.
ABA therapy with a school readiness component may include:
- Small group time: Also referred to as “circle time”, small group activities focus on social and communication skills like sharing, group play, listening skills, and teaching children to respond to their name and follow simple instructions. It can also include learning simple “pre-academic” skills, like answering questions or point
- Small group instruction and creative time: This portion of the day would include activities like music, arts and crafts, and group games like freeze dance or red light/green light. As with many aspects of ABA therapy, these may not sound like learning activities, but each situation is designed to teach important social, communication, and motor skills like following group instructions, requesting items from peers, or asking for help, and learning colors and the names of common objects found in the classroom.
It’s important to note that while school readiness activities resemble common classroom situations in school-like settings, school readiness is not the same as school and ABA therapy does not replace school. The goal of preparing a child for success in the classroom is used to inform and create natural and inclusive settings where children with autism can learn important skills in an environment that better prepares them to use those skills in a real classroom.
Learn more about Inner Circle’s approach to ABA therapy for school readiness.