Chatty Tots Early Intervention Programme

This Scribble was penciled by Nicole Reynolds, Founder and Managing Director of The Children’s Place.

WHAT IS CHATTY TOTS EARLY INTERVENTION?

Chatty Tots Early Intervention (Chatty Tots EI) is a centre-based interdisciplinary therapy programme for 2 to 4-year-olds who may have or is suspected to have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Could this be for your little one?

FOUNDATIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS

STRUCTURE

• One-on-One Teaching: We provide your little one with one-on-one trained support to ensure they have the support they need when they need it. Your little one will be assigned two specific ABA tutors who will work with them throughout the year.

• Limited Group Size: To ensure your little one receives individualised attention and is provided with a nurturing environment, Chatty Tots Early Intervention will be limited to 5 children.

• Individual & Group Learning: Chatty Tots Early Intervention has been designed to provide your little one with teaching to build on foundational learning skills within both individual sessions and group sessions. Your little one will receive one-on-one support throughout the entire morning and will be taught developmental skills within their individual sessions with ABA tutors, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. These skills will be reinforced with their peers during group activities.

• Team Coordination: We understand it can be very difficult trying to coordinate all of the different professionals involved in your little one’s care so we ensure this is taken care of for you. Our team at The Children’s Place is all under the same roof collaborating throughout the year.

WHY CHATTY TOTS EARLY INTERVENTION?

“The first five years of a child’s life are fundamentally important. They are the foundation that shapes children’s future health, happiness, growth, development and learning achievement at school, in the family and community, and in life in general.” (Unicef’s Facts for Life) For all little ones with a diagnosis of or suspected diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), early intervention is the key. If we intervene early, we have the best chance of helping to shape the developing brain.

Our centre-based interdisciplinary programme has all three disciplines of occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and applied behavior analysis combined to create a full tailor-made early intervention programme for your little one within both a peer group and 1:1 teaching setting.

Our behavior analysts, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists conduct their assessments together and discuss from all perspectives what the best foundational programme will be for your little one. All our therapists have been working together creating holistic programmes for families worldwide, and we are now excited to bring this holistic approach to our Clapham Centre to ensure your little one gains foundational skills to help support their transition into group learning that will take place when they join school.

MIMICKING NURSERY SETTING

Children with a diagnosis of or suspected diagnosis of ASD have difficulties picking up skills naturally within the nursery setting, as they are not always naturally reinforced by imitating and engaging with others. For children with autism, play and social skills must be broken down, deliberately taught, practised, and generalized. This teaching method will allow a child with autism to take part in play and peer group activities.

Our Chatty Tots Early Intervention therapy programme is created to mimic aspects of the nursery environment so your little one has the opportunity to work on their social skills while incorporating the one-on-one learning they need to develop the skills that are difficult for them. Chatty Tots Early Intervention runs for the entire year during typical term times to provide these opportunities.

360 SUPPORT

Facilitating Community Support: 

It is important for families to have a supportive network with other families who understand the struggles they are facing. Throughout the Chatty Tots Early Intervention programme year, The Children’s Place will host events to help the families get to know each other and create a supportive community of individuals who understand what each other is going through — to support each other through the challenges and the wins!

Additional Weekly SLT, OT and BCBA Sessions:

If your little one would benefit from having additional speech and language therapy, occupational therapy or board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) sessions on a weekly or biweekly basis, additional sessions can be added. After your little one’s initial assessment, your team of therapists will be able to discuss this with you in further detail to ensure we provide the best therapy input for your little one.

Parent Training:

It has been empirically supported that parent engagement correlates strongly with skill acquisition and generalisation for young children. This is why we believe parent training and support is key. We value the input from families and encourage parents to be active participants in their little one’s targets so that skills learned in the clinic are transferred to home and out in the community. This is reinforced with the option to extend the in-clinic program to have weekly online parent training as well.

Full or Partial Afternoon Programme:

If you would also like support for your little one in the afternoons, there is the option to extend sessions to an afternoon home or school session that supports the child to generalise skills learned in-clinic into other settings. Having an ABA tutor from the clinic transition with your little one allows your child to understand that expectations are the same across settings and also provides ABA tutors with the opportunity to train parent/carers or teachers in maintaining expectations and implementing strategies to support their child further at home or at school. Additionally, this wrap-around service allows us, as practitioners, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of our little ones’ skills when they are out in the community and helps us in bridging this gap in our in-clinic teaching.

We love being able to support families holistically and can’t wait to see you and your family soon!