Not necessarily, but it is dependent on which program your child is participating in and the factors related to why it is not a mastered skill yet.

The short answer is yes. However, there are widely varying degrees of skill and expertise within the different fields SLP, PT, OT. We want our learners to be receiving the best of the best with everything they receive and we want it to be worth their time and worth your money (ie results in measurable skill gains and training and consultation is provided to everyone involved so that everyone is on the same page) We are choosy about who we enter into collaborative on-stie relationships with because we feel that your child’s time is valuable and services should always result in true improvements that are observable to everyone. We also know that the science of behavior analysis offers tools that are applicable to all providers and can only serve to enhance services, so we work with providers that are interested and willing to learn and utilize these tools. In the same respect, we recognize and honor the specialty knowledge of outside providers and expect for them to share that knowledge in a way that allows our teachers to incorporate this knowledge across the learners day.

There is no easy answer to this question. In most cases the answer is yes, your child can succeed in our setting. 1 on 1 learning can easily become a relationship of learned dependence and it is important to note being a neurodivergent individual does not mean you can only learn in a 1 on 1 setting; all learners are capable of learning in a group. There are specific skills that make a child more successful in our setting. If a child is currently demonstrating frequent dangerous behaviors that put their safety, or the safety of others at risk then we are not a good option because it is difficult for us to safely reduce those behaviors within the 3 to 1 ratio. We have an intensive in-take process that involves in-depth parent interview, records review, informal assessment, and trial in the actual classroom. We try to assess very thoroughly with all information available if we feel a child is a good fit for our program. Long term we are working to create a classroom that will be able to offer a 1 to 1 ratio option so that children can systematically gain skills that reduce safety concern behaviors and increase their ability to succeed in a higher ratio. It Is tough when we are not able to serve a learner as we won’t to serve the whole community. If a child is not a current fit, we always encourage parents to continue to check-in as new skills are gained that will increase the likelihood that the child is now ready to succeed within our ratios.

The number one thing we emphasize to families is the importance of their involvement in their child’s educational experience at our school. First and foremost, we are not babysitters or magicians. We are working in partnership with families to bring about immediate quality of life improvements for our learners and their families and to put them on the path to successful long term adult outcomes. This starts and ends with parents. We empower parents by teaching them the skills necessary to be effective with their child. This requires a high level of commitment to training and implementation and a willingness for open and vulnerable communication. We are 100% committed to our learners and their families and will be there every step of the way as long as we are receiving the same commitment in return. We ask for your trust in us as professionals with years and year of experience. We will always explain the why behind what we do, share information and research, the answer will never be that’s just the way we do things. We also ask our families to remain focused on positive and solution-oriented communication with staff and other families. The culture of TAPS is a loving, nurturing environment where families can connect and support one another. We ask for direct and honest communication that is directed to staff so that we can address any and all questions and concerns in a swift and effective manner.

While every situation is unique, most if not all our children do not need it. Your child would be receiving those services at our school, and having additional hours is exhausting for most kids and redundant.

There are rare circumstances in which this might be good to also have in place but in an ideal world these providers would be in constant dialogue with us and willing to align their approach with ours so they are not working against us.

We offer in-home observations and individual and group parent training to address the needs of the family and to ensure that parents are able to implement skill acquisition programs at home.

We do not directly employee an SLP or OT. However, we do have an OT that contracts directly with families and comes on-site to provide services for a lot of our families. We also have an SLP that we like to work with that families can contract consultation and collaboration services that works with our teachers. In many instances families end up reducing or ending speech therapy if there child is in the functional communication program because they are working on communication 6 hours a day 5 days a week. Typically families continue speech services to work on vocal speech and specific physical difficulties with chewing and swallowing. When we are first implementing augmentative and alternative communication systems, it is often more effective to hold off on targeting vocal speech until learners have begun demonstrating self-initiated communication that involves picture discrimination.

We do not allow outside ABA providers into our classrooms or allow parents to provide shadows. We will continue to evaluate this decision each year but at this time feel it is the best choice for the organization and its learners to ensure true consistency in quality, training, and approach to teaching. Our staff are all trained in the pyramid approach to education which allows for a strong foundation across classrooms and programs and ensures consistency and replicability.

Problem behaviors (behaviors which impact your child’s ability to learn, maintain safety to themselves or others, or socially succeed with others) is something that we frequently encounter with our learners.

As a school that uses the science of behavior analysis, we approach problem behaviors by asking the question, “why are these behaviors happening and how are they currently serving the learner?” There are three main categories of why a behavior occurs:

1. access (concrete item, activity, sensory, social),

2. avoidance/escape (demand, activity, setting)

3. elicited (loss of desired item, delay in access, rate of work to gain access to preferred item, unexpected or undesired circumstances, biological factors like pain).

Once we know the why, we can determine a safer more appropriate behavior to teach the learner that will serve the same purpose the previous unsafe behavior was serving.

For a learner that has a long history of displaying frequent high intensity behaviors that cause a significant safety risk to themselves or others, or directly impedes their ability to learn or has a demonstrated history of increasing those types of behaviors when 1 on 1 support is removed, we would need to carefully consider the specific information and history to determine if this learner would succeed in our classrooms as they are currently constructed. Sometimes children just need more support to learn, and that’s ok, but we do not have that ability.

We do not suspend students, and avoid at all costs sending students home for problem behaviors. Our teachers are trained to work with children displaying problem behaviors and if that type of behavior is occurring we need to do more to figure out why its happening and how to find an alternative approach to alleviate that behavior.

There are rare times we may have to send a student home for the day to protect the safety and well-being of the staff and other students.  

(1) The first step as an interested parent is to answer the questions that determine which program is the best fit for your child if you haven't already done so.

(2) After reviewing the program information, if you are interested in moving forward, complete the quick interest form.

(3) You will receive an email with a link to the calendar to schedule an initial virtual meeting with the executive director.

(4) We would then schedule an on-site tour for the parents/guardians without your learner.

(5) You would then fill out the in-take paperwork so a thorough records review can occur.

(6) The next step is for your learner to come in for a one-hour informal assessment with the executive director.

(7) Finally, your learner would join us for a trial period between 1-5 days.

We follow the Wake County traditional calendar (including their weather closings).

We also offer an optional 6-week summer program for current and incoming students.

When we are first establishing a relationship with new learners, we do not allow parents in the building as this is a delicate process and in order for us to fully establish trust and rapport with learners we need to avoid re-introducing parents into the environment. As the year progresses, we have different holiday parties that we invite families to participate in. We also will invite parents to come into the classroom to observe specific lessons and skills so that they can learn how to do that with their children.

We also appreciate parent volunteers that can do tasks off campus such as laminating, velcroing, etc. In some instances, we may train parents to come in and provide direct help in the classrooms but avoid having parents provide those services in their child’s classroom as that can create a host of difficulties for the learner.

We use a communication platform with parents that allows you to receive announcements, stories, videos, pictures, and actual work samples completed by your child. You are able to directly message your child’s teachers. You also receive anecdotal information about your child as well hard data on goal progress. You meet with teachers for parent conferences throughout the year as well.

Every learner receives a skill acquisition plan that consists of about 10-15 goals that have been determined to be the most pivotal skills for that child to learn first in working towards that immediate change in quality of life and long term success with adult outcomes.

As a student masters a goal a new goal is added. So their skill acquisition plan is a fluid document that is updated in real time throughout the year.

Parents are updated regularly on how a learner is doing with acquiring these skills.

The school is not affiliated with any religion, and students and families from all faiths, religions and beliefs are welcome and apart of our school.

Our founder and executive director is very clear about the fact that opening this school and serving the neurodiverse community is her life’s purpose, which was made clear to her from her creator at a very young age.

As an organization we employee individuals that demonstrate a passion and love for the community and feel a deep sense of calling (however they obtained it) to be in this profession.

Our staff experience the true joys that are experienced day in and day out as we witness children gaining skills that change their lives.

We are required by NC non-public instruction and by the grant folks to do standardized testing starting in 3rd grade.

We typically use the California achievement test.

These scores do not have any bearing on a student’s grades and are not viewed as a true measure of progress, merely a hoop we are required to jump through.

True measure of progress is comparing starting skills for a learner to their skills over time, measuring their own individual progress.

In the SEL classroom, to graduate from the program with a diploma they do have to receive a certain score on their end of year tests.

Our focus is on ensuring that our learners can demonstrate skills in all settings. The classroom is just one of many environments where we want to see those skills. Therefore, we take our learners out into the community weekly. Depending on the age or our learners and how long they have been in the program, they go to the grocery store weekly to purchase their own groceries to make their own lunches and for preferred snacks. Students also go to local playgrounds (about 20 different playgrounds within a 15 mile radius) and go on community walks. Learners also go on a wide variety of field trips in the community based on environments that have been challenging for learners in the past or based on leisure skills we are teaching or on a new interest topic for a particular classroom. The frequency and duration of trips varies by program and age of the learners. We typically do not include parents on these field trips as we are working on very specific skills and on having the learner demonstrate them for their instructors. However, there are certain field trips that we take that we do invite parents to join us for.

We do not have a playground on-site but directly across the street we have a church that allows us to use their playground, walking trail, and basketball court. We also have two different ponds within walking distance. We travel to community playground as well.

We chose to be a non-profit school because we believe that a business model that forces decisions about finances to be funneled through the lens of profit and loss is inappropriate for serving such a vulnerable population.

Providing the level of quality of services we do is very expensive so we quickly learned that we needed to explore alternative routes for funding.

We have fundraisers throughout the year, network with businesses to try to build donor relationships, and explore different grant options.

Yes, we are a private school registered with the North Carolina Department of Non-Public Instruction.

Yes, we are a recipient of both the Opportunity Scholarship and ESA+ Grants from NCSEAA.

No, we are a school, and thus are not considered a clinical setting. We simply use the tools of the science of behavior analysis to approach learning with the most scientifically sound and effective methods.

Not yet, but that is a goal we have once we have been an established non-profit and have a larger donor list.