Autism and starting school: Is your child ready?

Autism and starting school: Is your child ready?

 The main difference between a neurotypical child who starts school for the first time and a child with autism starting school for the first time is the preparation.

Children with autism often need extra help learning critical skills they need to make the most of the social, academic, and physical opportunities that a school provides. Not having the appropriate skills to start school can undermine a child’s academic achievement and result in poor long-term outcomes, according to research.

 

Here’s a look at some of the most important skills children need to begin their school career with confidence.

  • The CDC provides a great place to start with their list of milestones for children who are 5 years old. By this age, children should know how to:
  • Take turns and follow rules
  • Do simple chores around the house
  • Sing, dance, or act for you
  • Tell a story with at least two events in it
  • Answer simple questions about a book or story that was read to them
  • Uses or recognizes simple rhymes
  • Count to 10
  • Name some numbers between 1-5 and some letters when you point to them
  • Use words about time, like yesterday and tomorrow
  • Pay attention for 5 -10 minutes during activities
  • Write some letters in their name
  • Button some buttons
  • Hop on one foot
  • This article provides a handy list of life skills divided into four categories that children need to start kindergarten, including:
  • Body management skills – Dressing/undressing; toileting; hand washing; using simple utensils to eat; using scissors and pencils; and beginning to use a keyboard
  • Social interaction management – Playing with other children; expressing, enjoying, and understanding pretend scenarios; waiting their turn; thinking before acting; knowing how to talk to an adult
  • Information management – Following instructions; concentrating on a single task for longer periods of time; sight and sound knowledge of the alphabet
  • Emotion management – Identify in words what they, or their peers, are feeling
  • In addition to the skills listed above, children also need to be able to:
  • Understand social cues, the verbal and nonverbal ways we communicate through the face, body, voice, and motion
  • Express their needs and thoughts effectively
  • Cope with changes and adapt to new situations
  • Imitate behaviors they see others are doing and be able to discriminate between wanted and unwanted behaviors
  • Recall information they’ve learned
  • Separate from their parents or guardians
  • Start and stop activities

 

ABA therapy is designed to help kids with autism learn the skills they need to start school.

Studies have shown early intervention for autism, like the gold standard ABA therapy, is more likely to have major long-term positive effects on a child’s symptoms and skills later in life.

Early intervention is treating the symptoms of autism in children during their formative years, starting as young as two years old, around the time when they’re likely to be officially diagnosed. Starting children early is important because that’s when their brains are making connections about and with the world around them, forming a foundation for learning that impacts the rest of their lives.

The skills children with autism learn through ABA therapy align with the skills they need to start school. Parents should enroll their children in early start or school readiness ABA therapy programs like B.E.E.S. at The Behavior Exchange. B.E.E.S. is similar to a preschool with the added benefit of being led by expert behavior therapists who can provide children with focused attention on children’s individual needs.

Through fun activities like circle time, music and movement, arts and crafts, and sing-a-longs, children can learn and practice important social, communication, behavior, motor, and academic skills alongside their peers that prepare them for starting school for the first time and help set them up for reaching their full potential in the classroom and beyond.

 

The easiest way to assess if your child is ready for school is to work with an ABA provider.

ABA therapists can provide you with an assessment of your child’s readiness for school. There are several assessment tools they can use, or, if they have been working with your child for a while, an assessment may not be necessary. Either way, ABA therapy can help instill the peace of mind you want that your child is prepared to start school and has the skills to not only participate in a classroom but also to make friends.

For more information about ABA therapy and school readiness, you’re invited to contact our autism and ABA therapists in North Texas and the Boulder, Colorado, area. Live elsewhere? The very best place to find an accredited ABA therapy provider in your area is to visit bhcoe.org.

Remember, school is cool with ABA therapy!

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Ashvina attended University of Bombay and graduated with a Bachelors of Commerce. She got her Montessori Diploma in 1985 and taught ever since. Ashvina came to TBE in January of 2016 as Admin Assistant. During the years she got the opportunity to learn and work in different departments such as HR, Finance, Office Manager and Executive Assistant. Last summer TBE bought billing in house and her current focus area is Revenue Cycle Management. She is detail oriented and enjoys working with people. Ashvina volunteers to deliver meals to seniors and local shelters on the weekend. She loves to spend time with her family and grandkids. Ashvina loves her job because she enjoys hearing different points of view, and she feels her contributions help fuel the direction of our company.

Working with children comes naturally to Angela. Her mom was a special education teacher for 30 years and often had Angela join her for Take Your Child to Work Day. And in high school, Angela spent every summer as the nanny for a little boy with an autism spectrum disorder. It was this experience where her passion for working with children with autism started to blossom.

From there, she went on to graduate from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Sciences. She learned about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in a non-normative development class and from that moment knew that ABA would be her life’s work.

Angela moved to the DFW area shortly after and began working at The Behavior Exchange as a therapist. She worked on her Master’s in Behavior Analysis at the same time. A year after graduating, she earned certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

Now, as a Clinical Director at The Behavior Exchange, she brings a life-long passion to her work, holding a special place in her heart for children with limited language skills and working closely with families to develop healthy sleep habits.

Danielle’s passion for working with families is deeply personal and from the heart. Her younger brother has an autism spectrum disorder, and through their journey as a family, she found her purpose in life as an advocate for individuals with special needs.

After graduating from the University of North Texas with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, Danielle began volunteering at The Behavior Exchange. She saw passionate therapists, meaningful change for clients, and families with hope for the future. After a summer of volunteering, she officially joined the team as Director of Admissions and found her home with The Behavior Exchange family.

With her extensive experience working as a client advocate with insurance providers, Danielle perseveres to help individuals of all ages and abilities receive the services they need to reach their full potential. She feels truly honored by each and every family who entrusts The Behavior Exchange to be part of their journey and is committed to the organization’s core values, mission, and goal of being a beacon of hope for the community.

Adam has always had a passion for helping individuals of all ages thrive and reach their full potential. He’s also an enthusiastic musician, songwriter, leader, and devoted family man, who has been helping children and team members grow with The Behavior Exchange since 2010.

Prior to joining the team at The Behavior Exchange, Adam was a mortgage loan consultant and grad student, pursuing his master’s degree in Education at the University of North Texas. He graduated in 2013 and also earned a graduate academic certificate in Autism Intervention. The following year, after years as a Behavior Therapist and seeing first-hand the power of ABA and the meaningful impact it can have on children and their families, Adam became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. He then commenced from the Stagen Leadership Academy after completing the Integral Leadership Program (ILP), a 52-week practice-based program designed to develop executives serious about transforming themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

Adam is truly grateful to be a part of a dynamic, inspiring and compassionate team, and he’s dedicated to bettering the lives of all children and their families through the delivery of the highest quality of ABA services, while supporting the amazing team at The Behavior Exchange.

Soraya is from South Africa and moved to Texas in 1996. She graduated from The University of Texas and pursued a career, at that time, in Education. Soraya taught at a Montessori school for a few years and then took on a leadership role.

During her time in the education system, Soraya realized her passion was to assist children with special needs. So she joined The Behavior Exchange as a therapist, transitioned into a supervisory role in 2017, and a year and a half later, was promoted to Clinical Operations Manager.

She quickly learned the ins and outs of ABA operations and scheduling and successfully collaborates across departments to ensure The Behavior Exchange continues to provide quality services to clients and their families. She’s thankful to be part of such an amazing organization and excited to see what the future holds.

You could say Walter’s career started when he spent hours as a young child drawing superheroes and coloring maps. This passion, along with extraordinary swimming skills, landed him a full swimming scholarship at Texas Christian University, where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Graphics.

During the next 13 years, his design and art direction skills, conceptual-thinking abilities, and marketing-savvy know-how were honed at a few prestigious advertising and marketing agencies around the Dallas area. In the mid 2000s, he helped his wife Tammy Cline-Soza (founder and CEO of The Behavior Exchange) create a unique and concise brand for her new business. From logos and websites to uniforms, brand voice and visuals, Walter has been the main creative force for all things The Behavior Exchange.

Aside from giving birth to The Behavior Exchange brand, Walter is helping Tammy raise two amazing, beautiful children, River and Sierra. In his spare time (the two minutes he’s got per week), you can find Walter illustrating iconic landmarks of Dallas and Texas or looking around for this next open-water swim. Once he gets back in shape.

After 20 years of building The Behavior Exchange, literally from the ground up,
Tammy couldn’t be more proud of the team, culture, and organization that it has become.

As a family helping families, The Behavior Exchanges looks for opportunities that will make the biggest impact and produce life-changing outcomes – for clients, families, and even for team members. Tammy believes that if a team, a family, a community takes care of each other, the possibilities are endless and the relationships built along the way can make life more enriching and challenges easier to navigate. You could say her goal has been to build a kind of utopia full of support, love, and expertise that brings the best services possible to the community and ensures more families have access to those services.

Tammy and her family have dedicated their lives to the mission of The Behavior Exchange and continue to grow, learn, cultivate, challenge, support, and create better models for success. To that end, she is committed to her own leadership development and actively participates in advanced training, mentoring, and deep self-exploration on how to live out her purpose to love and support her family and help others reach their full potential. She takes her position very seriously and tries to serve as a channel for what the universe wants to come to fruition.

She also loves travel, gardening, being creative, MUSIC!, tennis, yoga, meditation, journaling, reading, being in nature, adventures, and more than anything, spending time with her husband Walter and their two beautiful children, River and Sierra.