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STAGES OF THERAPY As the child learns, therapy will progress through different stages. Although the stages are not absolutely distinct, therapy can be described in three phases: Beginning Stages involve getting to know your child. It is critical to establish a warm, playful and reinforcing social relationship. To help accomplish this goal the first month of therapy emphasizes identification and establishment of reinforcers, with much play and non-contingent delivery of reinforcers. Through creating a positive atmosphere, your child will be far more amenable to the teaching process and therefore proceed faster through therapy with less power struggles and disruptive behaviors. It is essential to determine your child's likes and dislikes as well as identifying their strengths and weaknesses. "Learning to Learn" is also a critical component of the beginning stage. The child needs to learn that cooperation with requests will result in immediate and frequent rewards. This further entails acquiring skills such as sitting and paying attention, remaining on-task in the teaching situation, being responsive to instruction, learning how to process feedback, and understanding cause and effect. Middle Stages of therapy involve learning specific communication, play, self-help and social skills. Complex concepts are broken down into a series of steps that will be taught systemically. As the child moves through the program, there will be individualized adjustment of the curriculum to meet your child's needs. Therapy will be done as naturally as possible with a goal of increasing the child's ability to learn and function in natural settings. Children will be exposed to play dates and other social and community settings. Children are usually introduced to the school setting during this stage. Advanced Stages involve progressively making therapy more natural and generalizable to the everyday environment. Working on more subtle social and play skills is often a component of this stage. Completion of integration into natural learning environments (e.g., school) also occurs at this time. Realistic recommendations for future placements and needs for treatment may be discussed.
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