Toddlers Town Q8 is pleased to announce the launch of Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center

Because Toddlers Townʼs aim is exceptional child care for future citizens, we selected this developmental and early intervention program to support the children ages 2 to 9 with various developmental areas of need such as social communication delay, by using research and evidence-based methods in its implementation and practice.

ENROLLMENT PROCESS

PROGRAMS / SERVICES

SHINING STARS PROGRAM

Shining Stars Child Development Program incorporates both a classroom-based teaching model along with 1:1 therapy, designed for children between the ages of 2 to 5 years, with Autism Spectrum Disorders and/or other developmental delays, who would benefit from an intensive model, as supported by research, in order to prepare each child for learning acquisition, school readiness, language development and social skill development.

Shining Stars incorporates Toddlers Town’s curriculum within its program.  This program also incorporates the principles and science of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) into its practice and implementation to promote successful learning along with the curriculum in order to accommodate each student’s current abilities and individual areas of need. Its activities are designed to be delivered in a language-rich environment, with emphasis on language and communication, cognitive skills, adaptive skills, social skills, and motor skills, all of which are a part of the curriculum.

The Shining Stars program consists of the following elements:

• A highly structured learning environment, with a 2:1 teaching ratio;
• Inclusion opportunities into the “mainstream” nursery at Toddlers Town with the classes that are grade level, based on the child’s age;
• Classroom support will be provided by a qualified Teacher and Behavior Therapists;
• 10 hours per week of ABA;
• 1 hour per week of Occupational Therapy;
• 1 hour per week of Speech Therapy; and
• 1 hour per week of Program Supervision

Curriculum Objectives:

In addition to Toddlers Town’s curriculum, this program will include the following objectives:

• Language and Communication/Speech/Oral Motor Skills:
  • Language comprehension and expression
  • Speech production/Phonics
  • Pre-reading/writing and Reading
    
    
• Adaptive/Self-Help/Independence Skills
  
  • Self-feeding
  • Hand washing and drying
  • Toileting
  • Dressing
    
    
• Cognitive Skills across subject areas and themes
  • Learning and problem solving
  • Logical thinking
  • Representation and symbolic thinking
    
    
• Social Skills
  • Parallel and cooperative play
  • Participation and attending
    
    
• Gross and Fine Motor/Perceptual Skills
  • Coordination
  • Manipulation
  • Pre-writing skills

LEARNING SUPPORT

Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center offers learning support services to children with remedial academic and learning support needs. Our learning support professionals work with students enrolled in PreK to Grade 5. Sessions are structured to meet the needs of the child and are conducted either on (a) one-to-one basis or (b) Group basis (limited up to 2 students).

Prior to commencing learning support services with our professionals, students may be required to go through an educational assessment with our assigned clinicians so as to better understand the student’s areas of need.

Our professionals tailor the program to meet the needs of the student and are trained in a variety of approaches which support basic sensory functions related to learning. Such programs also are effective in supporting learning needs from those children affected by dyslexia, hyperlexia, apraxia, autism, and learning disabilities in general.

CASE MANAGEMENT/SUPERVISION

All programs are required to be supervised by a qualified Case Manager/Supervisor who manages and oversees each child’s intervention program and supervises its team of providers. Within the programs offered at Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center, each child will receive a minimum of 1 hour per week of Case Management/Supervision. Such hours may be increased based on assessment outcomes and the developmental needs of the child. The Case Manager/Supervisor will be each parent’s main source of contact about their child’s treatment and educational program

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS (ABA)

• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a science which serves as the key underlying principle of behavior treatment at Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center, where we utilize practices and treatment interventions that fall under the science of ABA.
• At Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center, ABA is provided in a practical environment and therapy methods vary based upon the child’s individual needs, while utilizing evidence-based practices.
• Every ABA program often utilizes the therapy method of Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT).
  Reinforcement is implemented.
• Prompting and fading strategies are utilized.
• Outcome-based decision-making is utilized.

SPEECH THERAPY

Speech therapists collaborate and work as part of a comprehensive team of providers in serving individuals with speech and language delay and other related developmental difficulties (e.g. stuttering). For individuals with developmental and learning difficulties,
speech and language therapy services are defined according to the individualʼs needs and desired goals and priorities for participation. These services generally take place in a one-to-one (1:1) setting and/or group setting, based on the individualʼs areas of need.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

Occupational therapy intervention helps individuals develop or improve appropriate social, play, motor, learning, community mobility, and sensory integration skills. The OT practitioner aids the individual in achieving and maintaining normal daily tasks such as getting dressed, engaging in social interactions, completing school activities, and working or playing. Furthermore, they evaluate an individualʼs ability to determine whether he or she has accomplished developmentally appropriate skills needed in such areas as grooming and play or leisure skills and provide interventions to help such individuals appropriately respond to information coming through the senses. Intervention may include developmental activities, sensory integration or sensory processing, and play activities. OTʼs work 1:1 with such individuals and collaborate and work as part of comprehensive team of providers that serve as part of an individualʼs educational and developmental program.

Occupational therapists at Stepping Stones Early Intervention Center:

• Work with the child to develop the skills required to achieve their goals (e.g. self-care tasks such as buttoning clothes, using eating utensils);
• Help to improve the child’s gross motor and fine motor skills and enhance their eye-hand coordination (e.g. learning to write on a classroom whiteboard, or copy what the teacher writes on the board onto a notebook; grasping and controlling pencil/grip, using scissors);
• Suggest environmental adaptations, such as removing visual stimuli on the walls in the classroom or changing the position of the child in the classroom;
• Provide sensory integration techniques/therapies to address the child’s overall sensory areas of need;
• Provide specialized equipment, such as pencil grips, Wilbarger brushes or therapeutic chewable pendants; and
• Educate parents, caregivers, and others about the child’s development and learning.