I Interviewed Co Founder And Director Of The Center

My visit was done at Summit Autism Center in Roswell, Georgia on Friday, March 25th, 2016. I interviewed co-founder and director of the center, Jennifer. According to the mission statement, Summit Autism Center aims to â€Å"provide individualized, effective, and scientifically based treatment for children with autism and related disabilities that are not otherwise available† (Summit Autism, 2015). Jennifer stated that Summit, in addition to teaching independent living skills and basic school academics, they specialize in applied behavior analysis (ABA), which uses the verbal behavior principles written by B.F. Skinner. They focus on a wide range of skill in hopes of maximizing the individual potential of each child in attendance by working on:†¦show more content†¦After that, the students file into their appropriate classrooms; they are separated by a combination of age and level of functioning. The students spend an hour working one on one with an ABA therapist on t heir individual goals. These goals range from identifying pictures on flash cards, following simple directions, hygiene skills, grocery shopping, or doing typical academic work. After an hour, they divide into what they call â€Å"specials† time. â€Å"Specials† is when the students go to their elective for the day, and every day is different. For examples, I was there on a Friday and every Friday is music therapy. After â€Å"specials†, the students break for lunch. However, there is more that goes into lunch time than just eating. Jennifer states that â€Å"many students with special needs, especially autism, have difficulty eating.† Sensory issues and texture aversions often come with many diagnoses and need to be addressed as early on as possible. After lunch, the children take a recess break and take this opportunity to be guided by teachers through appropriate play skills and work on social interactions, in addition. Once play time is over, the chil dren go back to their one on one setting to finish out the day with more individualized academics. Jennifer explains that her goal is to â€Å"help the students not only thrive academically, but learn to interact appropriate on many different levels and gain