Early Intervention
Intensive Early Intervention
CSAAC’s Intensive Early Intervention (IEI) program is an applied behavior analysis program based on a method developed by Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas at UCLA in early intervention and discrete trial training for individuals with autism. CSAAC’s IEI program serves children, age 2 to 6, who receive between 6 to 30 hours of weekly, one-to-one intervention in their home as part of a long-term, comprehensive, and results-oriented treatment program for children with developmental disabilities.
1 in every 150 persons born this year will be diagnosed with autism
The intervention focuses on building language, social, academic, and self-help/daily living skills and includes a licensed psychologist and special educator who lead a team of behavioral technicians, who are undergraduate and graduate psychology students. Children are taught language and social skills that children without autism learn naturally.
One of the many strengths of the program is parent participation. With the knowledge that parents are a child’s first teacher and the home is a natural learning environment for young children, the program heavily involves parents, who receive training and tips on participating in their child’s treatment. They can also apply their child’s IEI program as a supplemental service that supports and reinforces skills learned in school. The child’s progress is monitored in weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meetings where the child, his/her parents, and the child’s team are present.
CSAAC’s IEI program is just one of many services offered through its Center for Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (CAPDD). Other services include friendship groups, individual treatment, parent counseling and parent training in issues related to behavioral management, skill acquisition, self-help, recreation and social behavior. To learn more, contact Kay Inoue at (240) 912-3630.
Meet Dr. Christine Caselles
Dr. Christine Caselles is well prepared for her responsibilities in the Intensive Early Intervention program. Dr. Caselles earned a B.A. in Psychology at Vassar College and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Northern Illinois in 1995. She has a substantial background in child-related issues. Dr. Caselles’ doctoral dissertation was in the area of etiology and intervention of physical child abuse.
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Meet Dr. Larissa Reynolds
Dr. Larissa Reynolds has been a licensed psychologist in Maryland since 1998. She earned her Ph.D in clinical psychology from Louisiana State University in 1996. She completed a pre-doctoral internship through Brown University and postdoctoral fellowship in the Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
