For school-aged children seeking after-school ABA therapy, AZA United offers the Beyond the Bell program. This model is a specialized version of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is considered the gold standard for evidenced-based autism treatment. Designed for school-aged learners, this model prioritizes goals that will have the most significant impact on the child’s wellbeing, to prepare them to be successful as they gain skills and increase independence in different settings. This model is designed to focus on a few key skills aimed at maximizing quality of life. Objectives are taught through a combination of play, structured tasks, and hands-on activities.
Program Highlights
- Available for children ages 6 to 12 who attend school and are likely to benefit from low-to-moderate levels of support
- Designed to improve a specific set of high priority skills and behaviors in any domain of functioning (communication, socialization, challenging behaviors, self-help, etc.)
- Typical therapy schedule includes 5 days/week for a total of 10-25 hours
- Therapy takes place in-home or at an AZA United learning center
Program Overview
The Beyond the Bell model is designed to address a select number of targeted skills related to improving quality of life and increasing independence. After completing a customized assessment that is tailored to your child’s needs and family preferences, the family and the BCBA will set long-term goals that may take up to two years to complete. These larger goals will be broken into smaller objectives that constitute a treatment plan and allow the team to track progress over time.
Using questionnaires, parent interviews, direct observations and testing, we start by recommending objectives that align with the family’s stated goals and the needs of the child. We ask parents to provide feedback about suggested goals and priorities. This process continues as goals and teaching procedures are modified until the family is confident that the chosen goals will be the most impactful.
Depending on the child’s needs, Beyond the Bell can be either a low (10-12 hours/week) or moderate (15-25 hours/week) intensity program. Services may be either home or clinic based:
- Clinic services are provided after school.
- In-home services are provided after school, or in some cases on weekends.
- For both home and clinic, therapy sessions will be scheduled to meet the agreed upon treatment intensity. Sessions are always at least 2 hours each.
- Beyond the Bell also includes parent coaching sessions to help family members maintain consistency with teaching strategies outside of therapy, to maximize progress. These sessions are required at least once per month.
Before starting services, our team of expert clinicians conducts an assessment to fully understand the child’s current skill levels. An individualized treatment plan is created that is unique to each child’s needs and family preferences.
AZA’s Model of Care
The Beyond the Bell program is rooted in a child-led approach to ABA therapy. We believe learning should be enjoyable and that the child should feel empowered to make choices within their own therapy experience. Our expert clinicians are trained to provide family-centered services using a compassionate care treatment approach that respects the individuality of each learner.
We believe that collaboration is key among all therapy providers and educators that are supporting your child, to maximize progress and consistency. Our team proactively works with any other providers or services your child is receiving as much as possible to develop an effective and supportive approach. For clients receiving services in our clinic, we utilize the expertise of Speech Language Pathologists and Occupational Therapist so that our interventions are holistic and developmentally appropriate.
