In Home Programs
Center for Autism Research and Educational Services (CARES)
Age range: 2-7 years
Type of setting(s): Home-based, center-based, and staff
“shadow” in schools
Geographic Location(s): southern New Jersey (a 30-mile
radius from Cherry Hill, NJ)
Approval: Approved by the New Jersey Department of Education,
Clinics and Agencies
The Center for Autism Research and Educational Services (CARES) is one of only a handful of programs in the United States offering both in-home and classroom treatment for children ages 2 to 7 with autism. A variety of highly effective techniques are used to help preschool-age children, in particular, reach new skills and decrease dysfunctional behavior. Supervised by masters-level professionals, CARES offers intensive therapy for up to 40 hours per week, based on each child's assessed needs.
CARES' service model is based on a strong working partnership with parents, school district representatives and CARES clinicians. It incorporates intensive early intervention in the home, transition planning for students as they progress to a classroom or other setting, and ongoing clinical and consulting support as the children adjust to the appropriate educational environment.
CARES emphasizes intensive and comprehensive intervention using best practices of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as it applies to early intensive behavior intervention to develop cognitive, language and appropriate behavioral skills.
Programs are individualized as children progress through a series of carefully sequenced skills, with each new skill building upon previously learned material. Each program is related to another to form a coherent and systematic approach to curriculum development. Programming occurs along a continuum from a basic behavioral repertoire - such as imitating actions, speech and play, following simple one and two-step directions, and identifying common items and people - to more complex language skills. Most children learn to talk about things, people and events around them and to ask questions to gain information and knowledge. Some children will develop a “theory of mind,” the ability to look outside themselves and understand that people have thoughts and feelings that can differ from their own. From this they gain an appreciation of others' perspectives, which improves their ability to relate to others in socially meaningful ways.
Teaching methodologies include discrete trial instruction, incidental teaching and task analysis, and include emphasis on systematic prompting and fading procedures. Behavioral properties such as fluency, joint attention and generalized responding are given specific consideration.
Outcomes
CARES staff and consultants are able to translate the research on “theory
of mind” and devise a sequence of skills for children to develop the essential
components that must be intact for an appreciation of perspective-taking
and relating to others. The quality and duration of social engagement is
significantly increased with an understanding of peers' desires, motives,
intention and beliefs. When treatment is intensive and started early, significant
improvement can be made in the ability of children with autism to learn
in a manner more characteristic of their “typical” peers.
The results are significant: of a group of students who recently progressed through this clinical continuum, 72 percent were transitioned back to their home school districts; 74 percent of those moved into an inclusive setting.
