Harmony In Your Home

**We are new accepting new clients ages 2-4 with no wait list.

Leap Ahead introduces a new all inclusive customized program for your family to support and maintain “Harmony in Your Home.” Our goal is to take away worry and frustrations for all, to promote a more relaxed child, less-stressed parents, and to bring peace into your home. The family’s contribution to success will be your dedication to the program.

Our program is led by Special Ed educators that will provide as little as 1 ½ hours once a week or up to 3 hours per day three times a week. Our three to six-month program may include the following components tailored to your family’s specific needs:

(see below for a description of each of these services)

Organization
Routine/Scheduling
Communication
Behavior Modification
Safe Handling Plans
Home and School Coordination
Social and Listening Skills
Play Therapy
Sibling Support
Respite Care
Grant Application Support
(And any other needs that arise)

We will schedule an initial home visit with you and a member from our “Harmony in Your Home” team. During this visit, we will meet and greet your family. We will ask you specific questions, take time to observe your current family structure, and note “systems” that may already be in place.

Our “Team” will then begin to develop your family’s “Harmony in Your Home” program. We will create tools, schedules, etc., or other related components that are needed to implement your family’s individualized program.

Organization
This component of your program will target an age appropriate routine and organizational skills. We will be working directly with your child to achieve a clean room, a clean bathroom, and clear expectations regarding their chores in the home. If your child is school age we will include the successful way to organize school materials and backpacks.

Routine/Scheduling
Based on your child’s communication level we will create their routine/schedule. This schedule will contain daily living tasks including mealtime, snack time, naptime, bath and bedtime, etc. In addition, the schedule will contain all other activities.

Communication
With the assistance of a Speech Therapist and other facilitators there are a number of communication systems that have worked very well with autistic children. Based on your child’s reading and writing abilities we will choose a system that best suits your child’s needs. Systems may include PECS, Word Exchange Communication, Voice Machines, written schedules, etc.

Behavior Modification
We will target those behaviors not covered by the other components of your program. Our team will create and implement a Behavior Modification plan after collecting information using a Functional Behavior Assessment.

Safe Handling Plans
After careful evaluation from our team and if your family is interested we can offer a Safe Handling Plan appropriate for your child’s age. A Safe Handling Plan is designed to implement personal “hold” techniques to keep your child from harming himself/herself or others. This applies only to specific scenarios in which your child’s behavior has escalated to a point where you believe safe handling would be effective. (i.e. aggressive behaviors such as biting, head banging, physically hurting others, destruction of property, etc.)

Home and School Coordination
“Harmony in Your Home” will work to provide the conduit between home and school. We will meet with your child’s teacher, perform classroom observations, and bring the relationship between home and school into a full circle. This will ensure that your child, your child’s teacher, you and L.E.A.P. Ahead, Inc. professionals are all “on the same page.”

Social and Listening Skills
These skills for children with autism are vital to the management of autistic disorders. Children diagnosed with Autism do not instinctively gain the capacity to relate with others. They have to learn these skills through intentional interventions and treatments. If we take the time to observe the child engaging in activities, whether appropriate or not, we can learn how to approach the development of proper interaction. “Harmony in Your Home” can provide these important pieces of your child’s development as part of your family’s program.

Play Therapy
We will observe your child with a neurotypical peer and develop play and social goals individual to your child. We will provide the tools needed to make your child’s play therapy sessions positive and successful. Our play therapy sessions are provided in your home with a neurotypical peer that you provide from your neighborhood. We can assist in making sure that your peer is an appropriate model to work with your child. A typical Play Therapy session will last 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Sibling Support
This portion of the program will focus on teaching siblings of the child diagnosed with Autism simple skills that will enable them to engage their brother or sister in playful interactions. Research has shown that siblings can learn basic teaching strategies to engage their brother or sister with autism. These skills include things such making sure they have their sibling’s attention, giving simple instructions, and praising good play.

Respite Care
Respite Care is, simply, substitute care. A respite caregiver is a person who takes over when the primary caregiver takes a break. Sometimes the break is just a few minutes, a few hours or for family emergencies. Respite Care includes: assisting with any self care skills, sport activities, feeding concerns/issues and most importantly, allowing parents to have an evening out alone.

Grant Application Support
Many families wonder whether they can write a grant proposal and receive funds to help them manage the financial challenges that come with an autism spectrum diagnosis. Such grants are very competitive. Many will only pay for specific medical expenses, and send the funds directly to the medical provider. A growing number of foundations are making autism a priority for non-profit grants, which means local organizations that serve families have a better chance of receiving funds than ever before. “Harmony in Your Home” will be happy to help you apply for grants that fit your needs.

As our team and your family work together to achieve “Harmony in Your Home,” we will adapt to any needs that may arise and provide complete support during our time together.

Let’s create “Harmony in Your Home”

For more information contact: