(PRWEB) January 28, 2013
The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), the worlds largest provider of state-of-the-art, early intensive behavioral intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), is proud to announce Project Hope Foundation will begin to utilize Skills, CARDs online autism solution, to help maximize its treatment program for children with autism spectrum disorders. The foundation will integrate Skills into the treatment plans of over 80 children and will employ the program for a minimum of 5 years.
Project Hope Foundation serves the autism community through four core programs that focus on helping families, opening minds, promoting inclusion and expanding potential, said Project Hope Foundations clinical director, Mark Knight. The Skills curriculum will take our treatment program to the next level and allow for the enhanced progress tracking of our clients.
Skills offers the first and only applied behavior analysis (ABA) based comprehensive social skills, social cognition and executive functions curricula available. Skills is also one of the only online programs available that provides the ability to write behavior intervention plans (BIP) for challenging behaviors. Skills is designed to be both comprehensive and easy to use, increasing treatment effectiveness to produce positive results for every child.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC), 1 in every 88 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with an ASD, making it more prevalent than juvenile diabetes, pediatric cancer and childhood AIDS combined. CARD develops and utilizes technology to increase access to training for professionals who work with individuals on the autism spectrum.
We are thrilled that the Project Hope Foundation selected Skills as its online autism solution, said Skills co-creator Adel Najdowski, PhD, BCBA-D. Unlike other curriculum design tools for the treatment of autism, Skills has an assessment with a corresponding curriculum that addresses every skill a child learns in typical development, from infancy to adolescence and across every area of human development. Skills is designed to allow educators of children with ASD to access the most comprehensive assessment of a childs development. The results of the assessment are linked directly to a set of eight curricula that provide individualized lesson plans with step-by-step instructions for teaching children with ASD the skills they need.
Skills is based on empirically-supported treatment. While the system identifies and provides lessons for each child based on the results of his or her assessment, it also allows users the flexibility to tailor the program to the childs unique needs. Each of nearly 4,000 lesson activities includes IEP goals, worksheets, visual aids, tracking forms and lesson videos. Teachers, parents and practitioners use Skills as an effective and efficient treatment-management tool. The online program evaluates treatment progress one child at a time and provides charts and graphs that track treatment progress and the impact of various events on the childs progress. By allowing the user to view progress across a number of children, the user can evaluate treatment integrity down to the individual teacher.
Skills features: 1.An approach based on over 40 years of research on the use of ABA-based treatment for ASD 2.24/7 access from any computer anywhere in the world; 3.An individualized assessment linked to a comprehensive set of curricula across eight developmental areas: (1) Social, (2) Motor, (3) Language, (4) Adaptive, (5) Play, (6) Executive Functions, (7) Cognition, and (8) Academic Skills; 4.Age of typical development for skills assessed and within lesson plans 5.Almost 4,000 lesson activities 6.Easily accessible lesson activities, teaching guides, and tracking forms 7.Lesson activities that are customizable to meet the child's needs 8.Printable, fun, and creative worksheets, tracking forms and visual aids 9.Clear, brief and visually-appealing demonstration videos 10. Detailed treatment progress and clinical timeline chart 11. Ability to track and view the effect of challenging behaviors and alternative treatments on learning progress 12. Access to assessment, treatment and progress tracking all in one place 13. Lesson plans tailored to individualized educational plan (IEP) goals and benchmarks 14. Ability to write behavior intervention plans (BIP) for challenging behavior 15. Ability for teachers, professionals and parents to work together as a team in one online location 16. Multiple student viewing at one time (view all of a teacher's students in one account) 17. Ability to share access to students' accounts with other teachers and/or members of the treatment team 18. Ability to compare the effectiveness of teachers 19. Unlimited live assistance via web chats
For more information about Skills, visit http://www.skillsforautism.com or call 877-975-4559.
About Project Hope Foundation: Project Hope Foundation provides service through four primary programs: Hope Link, Hope Reach, Hope Academy, and Hope Alive. The mission of Project Hope is to lead the way in serving the autism community through these four core programs while focusing on helping families, opening minds, promoting inclusions and expanding potential. Hope Link is designed to help families deal with the challenges of autism by providing information about ASD including symptoms, therapies, interventions, services, funding options and coping skills. Hope Reach is dedicated to opening minds by providing 25 to 40 hours per week of intense ABA therapy to children with autism. Hope Academy, a school specifically designed to provide children with autism the opportunity to learn in classrooms with typical peers and a typical curriculum, strives to promote inclusion. Hope Alive is an innovative approach to expand the potential of youth and young adults with autism who need continued, creative support. For more information, visit http://www.projecthopesc.org or call (864) 676-0028.
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Project Hope Foundation Implements Skills® to Help Treat Children with Autism