FirstSteps provides specialized assessment and treatment of feeding difficulties and feeding disorders. Intervention addresses food/liquid refusal, as well as food selectivity by texture, type, and/or presentation.
FirstSteps for Kids, Inc.
Guiding Kids to Greater Goals
Our Services
FirstSteps prioritizes teaching new skills and behavior that will enable your child to attend and benefit from school, participate and enjoy social activities like birthday parties and sports, and be able to actively engage in their home and communities.
We always want to set intervention goals that are meaningful to your child and to you, and we will frequently check with you both to ensure we are addressing your intervention priorities.
Program Offerings
FirstSteps offers both Comprehensive and Focused intervention programs.
The vast majority of our young clients are enrolled in our Comprehensive Intervention program. Our children enrolled tend to begin this program as toddlers just after diagnosis, and their treatment plans include any and all areas of development. They receive upwards of 25 hours per week of intervention, typically across several environments as they mature and become school-age.
In contrast, our children enrolled in our Focused Intervention program tend to be school-aged and are coming to us for help with just a few specific skills. Our Focused Intervention program tends to be less intensive (10-15 hours per week) and shorter in duration than our Comprehensive Program.
Many Options For Our FirstSteps Kids:
ABA Treatment is most effective when delivered consistently and across all your child’s learning environments. FirstSteps is able to provide intervention services in your home, your child’s school, our center “Learning Villages,” and/or via Telehealth as determined by your child’s age and individual and family needs.
HOME-BASED
TREATMENT
SCHOOL-BASED
TREATMENT
CENTER-BASED
TREATMENT
TELEHEALTH SERVICES
The Advantages of our Home Based Treatment
HOME BASED
TREATMENT
Highly trained and caring Instructors are assigned to teach your child new skills and implement behavior intervention plans in home-based programs. This setting offers wonderful opportunities for skill generalization and focusing on daily living skills.
Highly trained and caring Instructors are assigned to teach your child new skills and implement behavior intervention plans in home-based programs. This setting offers wonderful opportunities for skill generalization and focusing on daily living skills.
The Advantages of our School Based Treatment
SCHOOL-BASED
TREATMENT
If school-performance is a focus, Instructors may attend school with your child. While "shadowing" your child, Instructors may serve as a liaison between your child, peers, and teachers, while implementing prompts, reinforcers, and behavior intervention plans to increase both socialization and educational learning. School offers another wonderful opportunity to generalize skills learned during 1:1 sessions to this dynamic group environment.
The Advantages of our Center-Based "Learning Villages"
CENTER-BASED
TREATMENT
Just as with our Home and School-based services, children receiving Center-based sessions receive individualized, 1:1 ABA programs. However, the Center offers many additional benefits, including:
Structured + Fun Environment -The Center may be the perfect place for addressing skills in a novel, distraction-free environment, that may be more challenging at home. Examples include feeding services, assistance with challenging behaviors, or even parent programming.
Structured + Fun Environment - The Center may be the perfect place for addressing skills in a novel, distraction-free environment, that may be more challenging at home. Examples include feeding services, assistance with challenging behaviors, or even parent programming.
Social Opportunities - Children have increased free- and structured- play opportunities with each other in the Center, as well as the opportunity to bring children together for learning skills in a group, such as imitation, choral activities, or gross-motor play.
Social Opportunities - Children have increased free- and structured- play opportunities with each other in the Center, as well as the opportunity to bring children together for learning skills in a group, such as imitation, choral activities, or gross-motor play.
Preparing for Group Learning - Gradually exposing our children to structured learning in small groups of peers will allow them to be more comfortable and successful in a larger group setting (such as school).
Preparing for Group Learning - Gradually exposing our children to structured learning in small groups of peers will allow them to be more comfortable and successful in a larger group setting (such as school).
Community - Whether it’s parents getting to know other parents, or children building their first friendships, Center-based services offer an invaluable learning village experience.
Community - Whether it’s parents getting to know other parents, or children building their first friendships, Center-based services offer an invaluable learning village experience.
On-site Supervision - Your child will have the entire local Clinical Team available to support, provide additional ideas, offer direct feedback to your Instructors, and work directly with your child.
On-site Supervision - Your child will have the entire local Clinical Team available to support, provide additional ideas, offer direct feedback to Instructors, and work directly with your child.
The Advantages of our Telehealth Services
TELEHEALTH SERVICES
We are pleased to offer your family Telehealth services essential to maintaining continuity of care and preventing interruptions or delays in treatment.
Our robust telehealth program includes pre-enrollment services for families waiting to start, as well as direct services, program monitoring and supervision, and caregiver consultation for our actively enrolled families.
Individualized Programs to Address your Child’s Specific Needs
Social Skills Development
In each and every FirstSteps session we prioritize teaching our kids how to interpret and respond to their social worlds. In addition to home and school 1:1 sessions, we offer targeted social opportunities at our Centers:
After School Groups:
Throughout the school year, many of our kids come to our centers after school where they attend targeted social skills groups. In small groups, social skills are addressed including everything from playing simple games with peers to perspective taking activities where they learn to develop and maintain real friendships. Groups are organized by age and skill areas targeted.
Summer Social Skills Intensive:
We also offer a traditional summer learning experience, FirstSteps For Friends, which targets both individual and group learning goals, and includes weekly learning themes, community field trips which reinforce new learning, and ample opportunities to make new friends.
Healthy Sleep
FirstSteps will assess and identify barriers to your child’s (and family’s) healthy sleep schedule and will develop an individualized intervention. In extreme cases, FirstSteps may provide overnight sleep training.
Healthy Eating
Self-Care & Daily Living
Independence with self-care including but not limited to hygiene, toileting, and dressing, is an essential treatment goal for all our children and will be included in every treatment plan. For some learners, self-care and adaptive skills are the sole focus of treatment and will include any and all skills needed to live as independently as possible as adults.
Parent & Caregiver Partnership
Treatment research and clinical experience has shined an important light on you – our kids’ wonderful families and caregivers. As you know your child the best, your input is invaluable to your child’s treatment success and our ability to provide optimal services. As such, FirstSteps invites you to be part of our Treatment Team.
“I am truly filled with joy when I see that the new skills we taught a child has enabled them to participate and enjoy family life outside of their treatment sessions. That is the true evidence of the meaningfulness of our work at FirstSteps. We want our kids to learn and then use those new skills across all aspects of their lives and without our support!”
Veronica Simonton, M.A., BCBA FirstSteps Program Director
To prepare you for your ABA journey, caregivers are first provided formal training in ABA theory and practical application, including how to teach new skills and address your child’s challenging behavior. If you are available, caregivers are also encouraged to join some or all of their child’s 1:1 FirstSteps sessions with our Instructors present to support you as you teach your child important new skills. In addition, we ask that one adult member of the family attend and participate at all Treatment Team Meetings. This allows for the entire treatment team to hear directly from you and to understand what goals are meaningful for you and your family. Together, we will discuss program modifications and instructional methods, while also celebrating your child’s accomplishments and the learning that occurred in the past month.
