What is the Learning Center?

The Learning Centre is a not for profit research based organization that specializes in educating children with Autism, PDD, Aspergers, Learning Disabilities, Global Developmental Delay and other related disorders. The learning centre provides children with exceptionalities enriched intensive IBI and educational instruction.

Why was the Learning Centre Created?

The Learning Centre was inspired by a vision of an educational environment that will shape children's learning for the rest of their lives. A place that can provide an intensive educational environment that is tailored to the learning needs of exceptional children. The Learning Center was named to commemorate our vision of courage, voice, and virtue. Our goal is to ensure our children receive an education that is delivered with a superior level of quality, accountability, and consistency, all factors that contribute to a successful intensive educational program.

Each day, a highly qualified supervisory team will

· Monitor all instructors implementing programs
· Evaluate each child's progress in their respective programs
· Recommend and implement program changes as needed
· Address questions and/or concerns from parents and instructors

What types of programs are offered?

Year round full and half day programs are offered. Full day programs are offered from Monday through Friday from 9:00 until 3:00, and half day programs are offered Monday Through Friday from 9:00 until 12:00, and from 12:00 until 3:00.

What type of instruction will my child receive?

Individualized programs are designed to meet each child's unique needs. Children are taught intensively using behavioral principles, 1:1 Instructional Assistants for short periods throughout the day. The remainder of the day the children are taught in small groups to teach children to relate to peers and to participate in social situations.

The curriculum focuses on cognitive, play, communication, motor, social, and life skill development. All program objectives are taught using applied behavioral principals to teach skills and reduce undesirable behaviors.

How many children are in each class?

In order to ensure that each child receives the individualized attention they require, class sizes are limited to a maximum of five children. Within each class, there will be one classroom instructor, and two instructional assistants. Class instruction is used for large group skill teaching. For some activities children will be separated into pairs, each with his/her own instructor to work on turn-taking, cooperative play and social skills.

Who will be teaching my child?

Classes will be lead by highly qualified classroom professionals. All classroom instructors currently have or are pursuing bachelor or Master's level education in psychology, education, special education or a closely related field. Classroom instructors possess extensive clinical experience within a supervised framework that involved systematic instruction utilizing applied behavioral principals and posses considerable knowledge in behavioral/developmental treatment models for children with developmental disabilities.

Instructional Assistants will assist classroom Instructors during group instruction as well as perform intensive behavioral intervention during 1:1 sessions with each child. Instructional Assistants currently have or are pursuing college or university level education in Psychology, Education, Special Education, or a closely related field. Instructional Assistants possess some clinical experience within a supervised center-based framework that involves systematic instruction as well as knowledge in behavioral/developmental treatment models for children with developmental disabilities.

All Classroom Instructors and Instructional Assistants are involved in ongoing professional development courses, workshops, and seminars provided by The Learning Centre.

Can I still have home-based instruction?

Parents whose children are participating in The Learning Centre may arrange for additional sessions to take place in their homes weekdays and /or on weekends. Home sessions should be coordinated with the Therapist. Objectives for home programming will be restricted to home based skill teaching and community integration.

How will I know if my child is making progress in his or her respective program?

In order to monitor each child's gains, progress reports, videos, and parent observations will be arranged in order for parent's to review their child's learning and development. Full psychological reports are available to assess the child's overall gains.

All children participating in our program will be part of our ongoing program evaluation research study to ensure accountability. This study is used to determine if the program is effective and efficient and to ensure quality. All data is presented at academic research conferences nationally and internationally.

What will my child's day consist of ?

Each day, students will receive both group and individual instruction. The following is a sample of our daily schedule

Full Day program Morning Half Day Program

9:00-10:30 Group Instruction 9:00-10:30 1:1 IBI Instruction
10:30-12:00 1:1 IBI Instruction 10:30-12:00 Group Instruction

12:00-12:30 Lunch with peers Afternoon Half Day Program

12:30-2:00 1:1 IBI Instruction 12:00-1:30 1:1 IBI Instruction
2:00-3:00 Group Instruction 1:30-3:00 Group Instruction

**Group instruction consists of small group play settings (2 children) and/or large group teaching for specific activities.

What services are available ?

There is a variety of government funded treatments and interventions that some families can participate in including: respite, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, early intervention services, and behavior management. Many of these interventions are provided on a limited basis to children up to six years of age.

It is recognized that Intensive Behavioral Intervention is effective in treating children with autism, yet there is a gap in our current system to support children with special needs at a level they require. Parents face a bewildering task of locating experienced service workers to teach, support and shadow their child into public education and programs. In addition the costs involved in hiring training and sustaining student workers is daunting. Many parents are challenged by the lack of support available to service their child and provide them with a consistent education that is both therapeutic and educational.

The new IBI initiative has blessed few families with the opportunity to supplement the overwhelming costs of intervention their child requires. The hope is that with the IBI initiative the government has targeted a population of needy children and identified a plan to develop greater professional expertise and training.

With the limited resources and the lack of properly trained professionals available, parents are forced to sustain the costs of specialized treatment and educational services. The costs involved are a partial investment that parents are faced with so that their child can lead a richer future.

What we can offer ?

Our goal is to offer parents a facility that provides a comprehensive program with skilled professionals. Our aim is to alleviate the burden parents face in dealing with orchestrating an intervention plan for their child.

Our team of professionals is carefully selected based on their clinical experience and academic career. We recruit only highly skilled individuals that can be part of our vision to deliver a superior level of programming.

We are fortunate to have a panel of three Clinical Developmental Psychologists who brings forth a wealth of information and experience to our organization. Each psychologist, with more than 25 years experience in a clinical, research and school environment, is recognized for their expertise in special education. Their involvement in our center ensures children's programs are clinically sound.

Our program only uses best practice procedures as guidelines that reflect evidenced-based procedures that is based on current scientific research. CH.I.L.D.'s pedagogy is based on intensive individualized instruction. All instructional objectives are provided by means of a Multidimensional Developmental Intervention Model-MDIM©, incorporating behavioral principles, play skills, communication and cognitive stimulation.

Our Supervisory team consists of a Clinical director, an Educational coordinator. Each member is integral to superb service delivery. From the moment a child is enrolled, our supervisory team provides the family with the resources, professionalism, and quality of programming their child requires to succeed in an intensive program. We take on the responsibility so that families can rest assured their child is receiving the highest level of therapeutic intervention and specialized education.

Our reputation is based on a high level of quality control. Our mandate is to enforce sound scientific practices in an ethical, and efficient manner that produces effective skill teaching that can help children attain skills beyond their limitations.