1. Are you a school?
We are not a school. Effective Interventions Inc. (E.I.Inc.)provides services to both private clientele or contracted district cases. We offer personalized consulting and services. We provide families with 1 on 1 services for their child on site, in their home or school setting. We can also offer consulting, advocacy, support and training for our enrolled families. Fees are paid after services are rendered. E.I. Inc. is not a state approved service provider and, as a result, families may not be entitled to reimbursement for fees paid to E.I. Inc. in exchange for services.However , we do have contracts with some school districts from Nassau and Suffolk counties. Please contact us about developing a contract for your school aged child to fulfill ABA services that are on their IEP.(We do not provide Early Intervention or CPSE services at this time. Those cases are for private clientele only)
2. If your facility is not a state approved service provider, how do I know qualified personnel are working with my child and my family?
Not being a state approved site simply means, we do not receive local, state or government funding. It does not reflect staff qualifications or the quality of our programming. In fact, you may find that our direct care providers have higher levels of training and education then some other non public private schools that are approved.
See question 8 below about the qualifications of our staff.
3. Are you an agency? Can I hire your staff to work in my home?
We can provide private consulting and or 1 on 1 ABA services in your home or school setting or at our facility in Levittown. However, in home services are limited in availability, and do suggest services at our onsite facility in Levittown.
4. Does that mean you cannot fill any hours given to me through Early Intervention or CPSE? What about CSE age (over 5-school age)? Can you fill any hours given to my child by my district?
We currently are not contracted by the Dept. of Health to provide services. We cannot fill hours that are granted by the Dept. of Mental Health, Early Intervention or at CPSE Level. However, there are school districts who have been utilizing our facility to fulfill hours for their extended hour school aged learners. If you are interested in having your School District reimburse you for the services rendered - or to contract with us -- this is a negotiation process you will have to facilitate with them directly. You are welcomed, to have your district contact us, if they need any questions answered in regards to our staff and the services which are rendered here.
5. What age groups do you service?
We are dedicated to serving a wide age range of children on the Autistic Spectrum. We welcome all families to apply for their child, if they feel this is an appropriate placement for them.
6. How many children do you service at one time?
Each learner is provided with a 1 on 1 therapist to implement intervention goals. Services are provided on an hourly basis. Learners can be at our facility for up to 2 hrs per day or we can send our staff into your home for session timesthat are required and madated by your child's IEP.Typical sessions are 90 to 120 minutes in length.
7. Who develops the goals for my child?
The development of intervention programs are viewed as a collaborative process with family members and our staff. We like to consider parents as experts on their children. Our staff, guidedby our Clinical Director (who is Board Certfied and a Masters in Special Education) will develop an intervention plan based on the family and child’s individual needs. We could also provide families, who have an existing supervised and consulted program, with just staff needed to apply behavior anaytic programs based on his current home program.
Many of the children we will service will already be in full day school or home programs; so our facility can be used to enhance and or encourage any skills you feel are not being prioritized or concentrated enough on elsewhere. Depending on the time you would like to spend at our facility or us in your home setting, this will dictate how we will prioritize the goals and how they will be implemented.
8. What are the qualifications of the staff providing services and supervision?
We have a very diverse and knowledgeable staff. They have varying degrees in Education & Psychology. Currently our Supervisory staff has minimally their Master’s degree in either Special Education or Psychology and have their Board Certification in Behavior Analysis. Our ABA instructors all have diverse backgrounds in the autism population and are trained in behavior analytic strategies. The common foundation of all of our staff is that they have a minimum of a Bachelors Degree in a related field (BA/BS with Teaching Certificate in Special Education,Psychology, etc), they have a passion and dedication in what they do, and extensive experience in working with individuals with Autism using Applied Behavior Analysis.
9. How closely does your advisory board work with your facility?
Our advisory board is available to us for routine and or scheduled program reviews and audits. We are very honored to have these fine professionals helping us maintain and uphold quality standards.
10. How often can I use your facility?
In order to ensure quality programming, we typically sugges a minimum of 6 hrs per week and a maximum of 2 hrs per day. (considerations may be made, but on a case by case basis)
11. Do you only use Applied Behavior Analysis? Are you familiar with other methods or models of intervention such as Verbal Behavior, Lovaas, Fluency, RDI etc? What about working on social interactions, playskills, encouraging joint attention or my child’s social and emotional competence?
Yes, our staff is aware of the many “models” of intervention. Many of which mentioned above, are also ABA. One method or intervention may emphasize one particular component over another or they may have certain biases in prompting or teaching strategies. We encourage our staff to be knowledgeable in all research-based interventions (as well as all the theory, research, strategies and procedures that may be emphasized in those models). We also are aware that many children with ASD have challenges in their social competencies, initiations of engagement, joint attention etc. If these are behaviors of concern for our families, we will find a system through which we could filter our procedures and data collection through an ABA perspective. We utilize the science of Applied Behavior Analysis to systematically guide us, our interactions and monitor our effectiveness with your child. You can be confident in knowing that we are making data based decisions and are not necessarily “bound” to any set of procedures, data collection or strategy.