Special Needs School in New York City

Floortime therapy has gained widespread prominence in the treatment of autistic children not only in the United States but also all around the world because of its simplistic but highly effective approach towards therapeutic play which can be used by both parents and healthcare professionals.

Each child with Autism is different, and because of their varying needs and demands, the therapy to be used is also different for everyone and is adjusted to their personal needs.

Floortime model or the DIR (Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-based) model works mainly by stimulating the natural interests of a child. It is one of the many therapy methods and procedures recommended by the National Institute of Mental Health, which also advises pursuing only any one form of therapy at any given time.

The reason for that is most probably the mixing up of therapies and getting the patient somewhat put-off, not to mention the high unreliability in case of developmental scores. Using only any one form of therapy at any given time is deemed the most effective way for therapeutic procedures and also for their effective development and progress monitoring.

Autism generally affects the two most basic but important deficits in children – communication skills and play skills.

Floortime therapy is basically hyperactive play which helps in the total engagement of the child who has difficulties in staying interested and focusing on something singular. It can be done by a licensed therapist, a suitable healthcare professional or even by parents themselves. The main aim is to get the child interested in something that’ll catch his/her attention and gain excitement.

It involves 20-30 minute play sessions where a child’s communication skills are slowly built up step by step. If done by parents, it helps in the bonding between parent and child. Autistic children do not play like regular children, so getting involved with their play on a deeper level is the key to their development. It’ll help the children flourish and the process has shown considerable promise and development during its implementation.

Floortime therapy was developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, one of the most decorated child researcher and author in autism history.

When a child is diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it affects every member of the family, especially the parents. The parents face a tough time coping with the issues of the child which include speech and sensory issues. They fear that their child will be the butt of jokes and ridicule owing to his communication problems and stay away from enrolling him in any school.

Such children with learning disabilities are termed ‘slow learners’ since they don’t develop the necessary skills in the same way as normal children. They may not have the explosion of words like other children. Such children fail to respond when they are called by their name or make eye contact. They also find it tough to understand or predict people’s behavior.

Children with such neurological disorders need special schools to realize their education goals since they don’t fit in regular classrooms of traditional schools. These special schools are equipped with teachers and therapists who are trained in handling such special needs students. Such schools follow a special model to help children with their social, emotional, communicative and developmental challenges. It is known as the DIR (Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship-Based) model, also known as Floortime.

This therapeutic intervention model was devised by Dr. Stanley Greenspan for helping children with autism and developmental disabilities. This model is used to develop in children a host of skills such as communication skills, social skills, emotional skills, attention skills and problem-solving skills.

The DIR model is used to solve developmental issues in children while Floortime is used with children having developmental, educational, mental- health and emotional disorders.

Let’s break down the DIR Model.

Developmental: If you understand where your child is from the development perspective, it becomes easy to target the areas which need to be worked upon. The Floortime approach has six developmental levels and the main aim is to locate at what developmental level the child is and then guide him to the next level using the Floortime methods.
Individual Difference: This refers to the individual differences which separate which separate one child from the other. Here, a child’s strengths and weaknesses, sensory differences, learning techniques are identified.
Relationship-Based: This model refers to the relationship of the kids with the parents. It encourages parents to use the Floortime techniques with their children every day. This model is used to strengthen the socio-emotional skills of a child.

A lot goes into choosing a school for your child. This is an important decision that helps in shaping the future of the child. Primarily choosing a school for the children entails set criteria that are chosen by the parents. There are definitive additions in these criteria when the child is specially-abled. We have to be extra careful with the choices we make, as they will harm the development of the child.

But there are a few things that can help in making the decision simpler for choosing the right special education school in NYC.

Skilled staff: The staff of a private special education school in NYC is skilled and certified with year of training at their disposal to help specially-abled children. Imagine our children being surrounded by staff that understands their needs and gives them the same love and care like we would. Just the thought can give you a huge relief.

Tailored education plans: Unlike public schools that often try to teach many children with different special needs in the same classroom, private special education schools designed specifically for children with special needs tend to develop education plans for each student keeping their habits and natural interests in mind. This helps them in concentrating better on the learning process.

For example, a child with severe dyslexia will require a different education plan than a child with mild dyslexia in many cases. In a private school environment, the differences between the ways these two children learn will not be glossed over.

Therapy sessions: It has been proven scientifically that therapy sessions are quite helpful in development of specially-abled children. The private special education schools provide these therapy sessions with the help of certified personnel. All of this is a part of the education program specially designed for children.

Moreover, you as a parent can also me a part of these therapy sessions so as to learn the techniques and then reinforce the same of your child while learning sessions happen at home. This exercise helps in completing the circle of education for the child.

The Individuals with disabilities education act or IDEA law mandates that the state provide each child with public education that meets his unique individual needs. IDEA specifies that children with various disabilities, including autism, be entitled to early intervention services and special education.

This means that teaching kids with autism is a bigger responsibility than you could have imagined. It requires more patience, evolved methods to keep up with the autistic child’s interest and better amenities to accomplish teaching in autism school.

Teaching autistic children cannot be generalized in any form. It involves a whole team that’s works on noting the behavior of students, developments at different stages, and social and academic needs. Students with autism often require teaching across a variety of settings with the autism schools expanse.

Listed below are some of the proven methods that have been adopted by autism schools and have worked out well in bringing out the desired results from the autistic children:

ABA or Applied Behavioral Analysis: This involves noticing each and every behavior aspect of the child. On the basis of this the teachers of autism school control the environment prior to the behavior and adjust the responses using positive reinforcements for the child.

DTT Or Discreet trial teaching: Firstly the skill sets of the child are measured and then each skill is broken down into small steps, and taught using prompts. These prompts are steadily excluded as the desired steps are mastered. The child is given opportunities to learn and practice each step in a variety of settings. Each time the child achieves the desired result; he receives positive reinforcement, such as verbal praise or something that he finds to be highly motivating.

Floortime therapy: One of the most well known ways of teaching autistic kids, floortime therapy is popular method of teaching in autism schools and other schools as well. In this method the child is mainly expands his communication circle by responding to things of his interest. The teachers ideally duly note these interests and the lessons are built using elements that are already of extreme interest to children. With time the teachers incorporate other elements that resonate with the prior interest so that the interaction level with the child increases manifold.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has been on the rise since the last few decades- the indicative symptoms manifest themselves in a number of ways that differ from person to person. For most cases, the symptoms become identifiable at the age of about three to five years. Numerous clinical studies have been performed on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD - NOS). One important lesson learnt from these studies is that early identification and intervention are crucial to help the child on the spectrum overcome all the challenges.

The singular cause of autism is not known as yet but it is known that it originates in the brain. At present, we do know the reasons behind why and how early intervention is effective for autism spectrum disorder.

Given below are a few important aspects of autism therapy that have been proven to be true by more than one clinical research:

The Earlier Intervention is Received, the Better

It is a well-known fact that early intervention produces greater gains for a child on the autism spectrum. There have been several studies on early intervention as well that enroll young children who are at high risk of developing autism. These studies, though still in the preliminary stages, are definitely promising. Observing the popular trend in the autism schools that the children who receive appropriate instruction and assistance sooner show better response, it can be said that the results of the aforementioned study should be encouraging.

The Regularity and Frequency of the Therapy Received by a Child Matter

There has never been any doubt about the fact that the therapy received by a child will be increasingly beneficial when the duration of the therapy session is increased. This means that parents with children on the autism spectrum should look for practical ways to increase the number of hours a child actively spends engaging in therapy sessions. In most of the leading schools for autistic children, therapy forms a significant part of the regular day at the school.

Parent Participation is Crucial

An effective way to maximize the outcomes of therapy and intervention is to extend the practices and teachings of the intervention received during therapy sessions and at school. Recent studies related to continuing the practice at home uphold the fact that when the therapy opportunities extend to more diverse environments like home due to parent participation, the benefits of any professionally administered therapy get enhanced.

My world went spinning a full circle when I discovered that my child was suffering from autism. I was so restless in my head that despite the fact that I knew the only way to deal with this was that I had to accept it and go with the possible options. But my heart was not ready to come to terms with this fact of my child’s life.

I was still juggling with the best options to make my child street smart when I discovered some autism schools in Manhattan. In my head these schools were not well equipped to take care of my vulnerable child and I started searching about them thoroughly to see if any of these came an inch closer to the kind of institution I had in mind.

In my state of paranoia I was not able to think positively as a result of which none of the schools seemed good enough. While I was still struggling with this state, husband came to my rescue and tried positively talking me into it. He even got me an appointment with one of the teachers in an autism school in Manhattan to meet me privately.

She went on to calm my nerves by telling me about facilities in autism schools of Manhattan. One of the main problems that I saw my child going through was his ability to socialize. This is one of the skills that is lacking in most autistic children, so they do not function well in public places. I thought this would a setback for my child throughout his life. But she told me that this could be overcome easily at the school.

They need to have their lessons broken up for individual learning and they also have to be able to remove themselves from a social setting before they become upset by their inability to interact. This can easily be dealt with in an autism school in Manhattan as the students remain at peace with their own kind of people. Most of the students find it comfortable to learn and interact in this environment as opposed to another public school.

This interaction with the teacher helped me clear up my mind and bring myself up to speed with happenings of the school.

The biggest problem of an autistic child is communication with a crowd. Hence, sending your autistic children to school can be a difficult task to accomplish. You might think that once your child gets admission in the school, the ball moves to the teacher’s court and they will take care of the education of the child.

The truth is that one must take care of the kind of school that the child attends has a great impact on the upbringing of child. Listed below are a few pointers that you must take of whether you are a parent of an autistic child or a teacher aspiring to teach autistic children. These pointers explain the best classroom environment where the child will learn properly and show remarkable improvement despite the learning disability:

The classroom should not be crowded with children. Autistic children do not like interacting with a large group of people at once. They take time to develop a comfort zone and in order to tackle them well they should be taught in small groups with one teacher attending to about 10 kids in one go. This gives the teacher time to attend each child.
The school for autistic children should refrain from having time bound lessons. Their ability to grab on to a lesson is lower and hence time bounded classes can lead to a lot of distraction and irritation in a child.
The activities in school should be easy to understand and of interest to autistic children. Rather than focusing on imparting book education to these kids, the important street-smart techniques should be taught so as to enable them to move about in the society without being dependent on someone else for the rest of their lives.
The school should not create report cards for autistic children. Every child is special in itself and creating a report card of its performance will only lead to hampering its confidence level. A progress report that helps the parents in understanding the graph is okay, but this should not be taken as a benchmark of the progress of the child.

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