Thank you for your interest in CLSN Therapy services. We hope that you will find all information helpful and are excited to be a part of your journey. Our primary focus is to provide your child and your family with quality services that are collaborative, innovative and all-encompassing. Integrity, safety, and accountability are of the utmost importance. Please review all information attached concerning CLSN Therapy policies and procedures, processes, and services.Fill out all of the attached patient history and background information before the scheduled assessment in order to expedite the process. All information will be used to create an appropriate treatment plan that will allow for success now and in the future. If at any point you need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us via phone call, text, or email. We look forward to working with you and your child.
What is ABA?
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an evidence-based approach to creating meaningful or socially significant behavior change. New skills and behaviors are taught while existing behaviors are modified. ABA focuses on behaviors that are observable and measurable, with respect to their function. This is determined through the collection of data that involves antecedents and consequences, which are events that occur directly before and after the behavior of interest. This approach utilizes principles of reinforcement, to increase skills that are functional and socially significant throughout the child’s daily life. ABA not only teaches these skills, but also promotes maintenance and generalization of the skills. ABA also serves to decrease behaviors that may interfere with learning, such as tantrums, aggression, or stereotypy. Treatment plans are developed to facilitate learning based on the individualized need of each child. Areas that we work on include (but are not limited to):
- Language and Functional Communication: Communicating needs/wants to others.
- Independent Play: Playing alone without assistance.
- Social Skills: Interacting with others.
- Imitation: Imitating behaviors or vocalizations of others.
- Gross/Fine Motor Skills: Control over balance and body movement.
- Visual/Perceptual Skills: Interpreting things he/she sees visually.
- Self-help Skills: Skills such as dressing, grooming, feeding, toilet training.
What is Floor-time/Play Therapy?
Floor-time, also known as Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based (DIR) Floor-time, is an intervention that focuses on promoting emotional and intellectual growth in children with developmental and learning challenges. It is a play-based therapy that aims to help children develop the foundational capacities for relating, communicating, and thinking. Floor-time encourages parents and caregivers to engage with the child in a way that follows the child's lead and interests, promoting emotional connections and social interactions. The therapy is designed to help children progress through the developmental stages at their own pace, building on their strengths and addressing their individual challenges.
Key Aspects of Floor-time/Play Therapy:
- Child-Driven Play: Floor-time encourages child-driven play, where the child takes the lead in the interaction, allowing them to express their thoughts and feelings through play.
- Parent Involvement: Parents and caregivers are actively involved in the therapy, engaging with the child in a way that promotes emotional connections and social interactions.
- Developmental Progression The therapy aims to help children progress through the developmental stages at their own pace, building on their strengths and addressing their individual challenges.
- Emotional and Intellectual Growth: Floor-time focuses on promoting emotional and intellectual growth in children with developmental and learning challenges through play-based interactions.
Benefits of Floor-time/Play Therapy:
- Emotional Development: Floor-time promotes emotional development by encouraging emotional connections and social interactions between the child and their parents or caregivers.
- Language Skills: Through child-driven play, children can naturally develop and improve their speech and language skills.
- Social Awareness: The therapy helps children develop social awareness and communication skills through engaging play-based interactions.
- Cognitive Development: Play-based interactions in Floor-time contribute to the cognitive development of children, allowing them to learn and grow in a relaxed and enjoyable environment.
Floor-time/Play Therapy is a valuable approach that focuses on promoting emotional, social, and cognitive development in children through child-driven play and parent involvement. It provides a nurturing and supportive environment for children to learn and grow at their own pace, addressing their individual challenges while building on their strengths.
What is Required To Start The Therapy:
- Completed Intake Packet: any other evaluations or reports would be helpful.
- Intake Interview.
- Caregiver/Parents access to training.
- Assessments of client to be completed by CLSN therapist and parents/caregivers.
- Meeting with the Director to discuss treatment goals and program plan.
- Arrangement of therapy schedule.
Types of Services CLSN Provides
Center-based Therapy
Our center-based program focuses on teaching basic skills to enhance learning for each child. Each child participates in a session with a Program therapist or therapist technician, with individual programming created by the Director. In addition to traditional therapy methods, our naturopathic services are integrated to support the overall well-being and health of the children.
Home based Therapy
To ensure that all skills are generalized, and that parents and family members can successfully implement the plan at home, our home-based services include training parents or caregivers to take on the role of the therapist under our supervision. This approach allows for the integration of naturopathic principles and techniques into the home environment, providing a holistic and consistent support system for the child's development. Our naturopathic approach is incorporated into the training process, emphasizing the importance of natural and holistic methods in the home-based therapy program. We recognize the significance of involving parents or caregivers in the therapy process and aim to provide comprehensive support and guidance to ensure the success of the program in natural environments, especially in the home and community settings.
Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA)
Our FBA services are designed for children who may have behaviors that are interfering with their ability to learn. An analysis of the behavior of concern is completed via parent interview and direct observation. Our naturopathic services are integrated into the analysis and plan to provide a holistic approach to addressing the behaviors of concern.
Parent Training
All our therapy services, including ABA, include a component of parent training. We recognize that the involvement of parents in the therapy process is crucial for the lasting effects of the program. In addition to traditional parent training, our naturopathic education and training will be available to provide holistic support and guidance for parents, guardians, or caretakers, ensuring a comprehensive and integrative approach to the child's well -being.
Participation by parents, guardians, or caretakers is not only encouraged but expected for the success of our comprehensive naturopathic 1:1 therapy program
Assessments Used For Client Intake
ABLLS-R:
The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills Revised is a criterion-referenced assessment protocol that is used to assess the language, academic, self-help, and motor skills of children with ASD and other developmental disabilities. The purpose of the assessment is to develop an individualized curriculum and skills tracking system. It provides a task analysis of skills, breaking each skill down to the separate components necessary to perform the skill adequately
FBA:
The Functional Behavioral Assessment Functional Behavior Assessment is the primary tool used to identify and attempt to understand a child's behavior. It is used develop strategies and interventions to address the problem behaviors. The process identifies the specific target behaviors and the purpose of the behavior.
VBMAPP:
The VB-MAPP is a criterion-referenced assessment tool, curriculum guide, and skill tracking system that is designed for children with autism, and other individuals who demonstrate language delays. There are five components of the VB-MAPP: Milestones, Barriers and Transition Assessment, Task Analysis and Skills Tracking and Placement and IEP Goals. They provide a baseline level of performance, a direction for intervention, a system for tracking skill acquisition and a tool for outcome measures.
Functional Emotional Developmental Levels (FEDL):
Assess the child's functional emotional development across the six developmental levels of the DIR model: Regulation, Engagement, Shared Attention, Two-Way Communication, Symbolic Thinking, and Logical Thinking.
Financial Information
All therapy are free and at no cost.
Rules and Regulations
Scheduling And Sessions
Sessions for therapy are typically scheduled in 2-3 hour blocks. The research demonstrates that longer sessions result in greater retention of skills and mastery is sustained. The parent or legal guardian is not required to be present during the therapy session but should arrive 10 minutes prior to the end of the session for consultation with the therapist. Please provide 30 days notice on significant changes to therapy scheduling in order to facilitate consistency in service delivery. This may include a request for change in schedule, long vacation, or termination of services. Sessions will involve direct services with the client, time to prep materials, data collection, and time to discuss the session with the parent.
Absences, Vacations And Holidays
- CLSN has scheduled vacation and holidays where all services will be canceled. I/We understand that we will be provided with a calendar of those scheduled days in advance.
- I/We understand that requests for leaves of absence or extended vacation from the program must be submitted with at least 30 days’ notice and will be reviewed by the Director. Upon approval, arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Illness Policy
- I/We understand that if my child’s temperature is at or above 100 degrees I/we will be contacted and that my/our child will be required to be picked up.
- I/We understand that my child must be fever free for a minimum of 24 hours before returning to therapy, without the aid of any fever reducing substance.
- I/We understand the I/we will be called to pick up my child from center therapy sessions ended, if he/she has two (2) or more unexpected instances of diarrhea. I/We understand that my/our child will not be permitted to resume therapy until 24 hours have passed with no diarrhea instances.
- I/We understand that I/we will be called to pick up my child from center therapy sessions ended if he/she has one (1) or more instances of vomiting. I/We understand that my/our child will not be allowed to resume therapy until 24 hours have passed with no instances of vomiting.
- I/We understand that I/we may bring my/our child to therapy if he/she has a common cold (slight occasional cough, clear runny nose, occasional sneezing). I/we further understand that if my/our child has discharge of any other color than clear, my/our child will not be seen for therapy.
- I/We understand that if my/our child has any rash other than a mild diaper rash I/we must bring a not from the doctor stating the rash is not contagious.
- I/We understand that by law my/our child is not permitted to be seen for therapy if he/she has contracted a communicable disease. Examples of communicable diseases are (but not limited to): Conjunctivitis (Pink eye), Impetigo, Hepatitis A, Scabies, Ringworm, Infections Diarrhea, Chicken Pox, Scarlet Fever, Lice, and Strep Throat. I/we understand that if my/our child is thought to have a communicable disease I/we will be contacted and that my/our child will not be permitted to be seen for therapy. I/we further understand that my/our child will not be permitted to attend therapy until a doctor’s note has been provided stating that my/our child is no longer contagious.
Observation Of Client
- I/We understand that my/our child could be videotaped while receiving therapy from CLSN for the purpose of training staff members and/or receiving video updates on my/our child’s progress. I/We understand that any video will be kept confidential.
- I/We understand that professionals, other clients, potential clients, staff, and therapists in training will occasionally be observing therapy. In these cases, I/we will be informed of the purpose of the observation.
- I/We understand that I/ We may view my/our child while he/she is receiving therapy. In addition, I/we may be asked to observe procedures to promote generalization.
Medical Information
- I/We understand that I/we have agreed to release my/our child’s medical and psychological records to CLSN. Releasing these records will allow us to review my/our child’s diagnosis, developmental, medical, levels of intellectual, behavioral, and social functioning as well as their medical history.
- I/ We understand that I/we give CLSN permission to seek medical assistance for my/our child in case of an emergency. Medical attention will be sought without my/our verbal permission if I/we are either unreachable, time is of the essence, or other unforeseeable circumstances arise.
- I/We understand that there are medical conditions, as well as certain medications (such as insulin), that the staff of CLSN is not qualified to deal with and/or administer. If a medical condition arises that the staff is NOT able to handle, my child may not be able to be seen by the staff.
Cancellation Policy and Fees
If written notice for cancellation of a session is not received 24 hours prior to the scheduled session, documentation for a no call/no show will be applied. If more than 3 no call/no shows are documented, the fourth and any cancelation thereafter will result in a 10,000.00 Naira fee. This ensures consistent and quality service are provided to our clients.
Service Agreement
This document contains important information about our professional services and business policies. It also contains summary information about the Health Information and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), a federal law that provides privacy protections and client rights with regard to the use and disclosure of your Protected Health Information (PHI) used for the purpose of treatment, payment, and health care operations. HIPPA requires that we provide you with a Notice of Privacy Practices for use and disclosure of PHI for treatment, payment, and health care operations. The Notice, which is attached to this Agreement, explains HIPPA and its application to your personal health information in greater detail. The law requires that we obtain your signature acknowledging that we have provided you with the information. Although these documents are long and sometimes complex, it is very important that you read them carefully and that you ask questions you have about the procedures at any time. When you sign this document, it will also represent an agreement between us. You may revoke this agreement in writing at any time. That revocation will be binding on us unless we have taken action in reliance on it; if there are obligation imposed on us by your health insurer in order to process or substantiate claims made under your policy; or if you have not satisfied any financial obligations you have incurred. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to discuss them with us.
Services Offered
We will provide services specifically designed to help you and/or your minor child, or otherwise provide you with referrals to other professionals. Our behavioral services consist primarily of individual behavioral and skill assessments and short and long-term therapy service provision to youth in the autism spectrum but are not limited to those areas.
Appointments
Except for rare emergencies, we will see your child at the time scheduled. We understand that circumstances (such as illness or family emergency) may arise which necessitate the occasional cancellation of appointments. In these cases, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, we ask that you give us as much notice as possible. This will allow us to offer your time to another person.
Confidentiality, Records, and Release Of Information
All services are confidential except to the extent that you provide us with written authorization to release specified information to specific individuals, or under other conditions and us mandated by Federal Republic of Nigerian law and our professional codes of conduct/ethics. These exceptions are discussed below.
To Protect Client From Harm
If we have reason to suspect that a minor, elderly, or disabled person is being abused, we are required to report this and ay additional information upon request to the appropriate state agency. If we believe that a client is threatening serious harm to him/herself or others, we are required to take protective actions which could include notifying the police, an intended victim, a minor’s parents, or others who could provide protection, or seek appropriate hospitalization.
Professional Consultations
Program Therapist routinely consult about cases with other professionals. In so doing, we make every effort to avoid revealing the identity of our clients, and any consulting professionals are also required to refrain from disclosing any information we reveal to them.
Records
We will review all testing results during our feedback session, and offer you opportunities to ask questions and discuss the results with us. You will receive a written report that summarizes the findings. This report will include a summary and interpretation of all individual testing, as well as impressions from individual observations and consultations conducted as a part of a comprehensive individual evaluation. Upon your request, we are happy to provide you with a written summary of our impressions from other meetings, consultations, or observations as well.
Professional Records
You should be aware that, pursuant to HIPPA, we keep clients’ Protected Health Information in two sets of professional records. One set contains the Clinical Record and the other the professional’s personal notes.
Client Rights
HIPPA provides you with several rights with regards to your Clinical Record and disclosures of protected health information. These rights include requesting that we amend your records; requesting that we amend your record; requesting restrictions on what information from your Clinical Record is disclosed to others; requesting an accounting of most disclosures of protected health information that you have neither consented to nor authorized; determining the location to which protected information disclosures are sent; having any complaints you make about your policies and procedures recorded in your records; and the right to a paper copy of the Agreement; the attached Notice Form, and our privacy policies and procedures.
Contacting Us
Given their many professional commitments, our professionals are often not immediately available by telephone. If you need to leave a message, we will make every effort to return your call promptly (within 24-48 hours with the exception of holidays and weekends). If you are difficult to reach, please leave some times when you will be available. We strongly encourage you to send us email for prompt responses.