The Cyzner Institute - Developmental learning for children, Preschool-third grade

	Frequently Asked Questions about CI I'm already taking my child to an occupational therapist and a speech therapist once a week. Why should I consider also enrolling my child in CI? With all the different treatment approaches out there, how will you know which one is best for my child? Is your program too intense for some children? How does CI help parents follow through with the instructional goals at home? Are your services guaranteed? How will I know if my child is making progress? How much do your services cost and how do they compare with other educational services and treatment centers? Is financing available? How long will my child need to come to your center? How much testing is necessary before my child can begin the program? 1. I'm already taking my child to an occupational therapist and a speech therapist once a week. Why should I consider also enrolling my child in CI? An essential part of a child’s occupational or speech/language program is a sufficient amount of daily practice and guided instruction. We follow through with the occupational or speech therapist’s goals and support the parents as they, too, use the program at home. This coordinated response among the therapists, parents and us gives the child the intensity of instruction he or she needs at affordable prices. There are times when we recommend that a child start in our 1:1 program first to address behavioral needs. This often helps the child become more receptive to treatment. This helps the family prioritize and many choose to postpone certain therapies that have not been effective yet and/or that their child was not ready to participate in, attend to, or benefit from initially. Feedback from other practitioners has been positive and differences have been noted in their ability to work with the child once he or she has received some 1:1 intervention at CI. At CI, children also practice integrating the skills they learn during their weekly visits to the occupational or speech/language therapists. For instance, a child’s teacher at CI might train the child to look at her as she gives a direction (social skill), listen to and understand the two-part direction (receptive language skill) then catch and toss a ball (gross motor and bilateral integration skill). Or, the teacher might train the child to ask, “May I swing?” (expressive language skill) then have the child get on the swing and push him or herself back and forth. This integrated activity helps the child build upper body strength and endurance (gross motor skill) and meets his or her sensory-based need for vestibular input (the need to move or change head position). « Back to top 2. With all the different treatment approaches out there, how will you know which one is best for my child? At CI, we deliver whatever the child needs. We determine many of these needs during the enrollment process. Then we closely monitor his or her daily performance, observe how well he or she responds to specific instructional approaches and make adjustments as needed. To maximize learning for each child, we often combine two or more treatment approaches. For instance, many students progress well when we combine applied behavioral analysis strategies (ABA) with sensory-based treatment strategies. When initially teaching a skill, we often begin with direct instruction, or teaching straight toward the targeted goal. Once the child masters the skill in two or more settings, we gradually shift our instructional approach to include more experiential learning that is less direct and intensive, yet promotes skill mastery and generalization. « Back to top 3. Is your program too intense for some children? No. We adjust the intensity to suit the child's current ability to respond successfully. During the initial stages of learning a new skill, a good lesson is like a good physical workout. The more correct responses a child produces in a given lesson, the faster he or she progresses. Therefore, we conduct our lessons to maximize these correct responses. To make these “heavy workouts” appealing to the child, we coach, praise and reinforce the child frequently. At the beginning of each child's instruction, we determine those foods, activities and toys that are highly reinforcing for him or her. For instance, if a child loves music, we put a musical toy in his or her bucket of reinforcers and allow the child to play with it for a moment or two before we begin the next set of practice exercises. We also schedule brief rest periods between each lesson. During these breaks, the child might engage in gross motor activities, such as shooting baskets, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, or playing a game with the teacher. Our teachers develop strong and nurturing relationships with each child. The child, therefore, becomes more willing to tolerate the heavy coaching during the lessons because he or she enjoys the teacher. « Back to top 4. How does CI help parents follow through with the instructional goals at home? As a parent of a child with special needs, you have an unusual job description. First, you must learn how to effectively parent your child and, second, you must learn how to teach him or her skills that other children often learn on their own. Both of these jobs require considerable knowledge and skill. At CI, we give you the tools you need to do your job well. First, we offer you a support system so you do not feel so isolated. Second, when you are ready, we can train you to be our co-teacher to help you reinforce the instructional goals at home. This may be done informally at the end of your child’s 1:1 sessions or through our Parent Training and Behavior Management Program. Home reinforcement is an essential part of the treatment program. It helps your child to use the skills he or she learns with us in different settings and/or with different teachers. This helps lead to skill mastery. We have several levels of communication with parents depending upon what program their child is enrolled in at the institute. Again, teachers may meet with parents post 1:1 sessions. Progress notes for all students and parent-teacher conferences for our weekday students are also excellent forums for parent training. « Back to top 5. Are your services guaranteed? How will I know if my child is making progress? Please note that many children come to Cyzner Institute with delays, including academic delays, and with what we deem are gaps in their development—for a variety of reasons. We make every effort to design and to carry-out individualized programs for each student. We try to provide just the right challenge to help our students feel confident about learning without feeling overwhelmed. We strive to meet the pre-academic and academic standards that any other school would uphold. However, given the nature of our student population and the point at which they come to us in their physical, emotional, and cognitive development, we cannot make any guarantees. We cannot say with 100% certainty that we will be able to close all gaps in development. « Back to top 6. How much do your services cost and how do they compare with other educational services and treatment centers? Because our services are comprehensive in scope, our fees and tuition vary. The rates are higher when students work 1:1 with a teacher and lower when they work in small groups. While our monthly tuition is higher than typical private schools, we can offer what they cannot, highly focused and customized instruction with integrated therapeutic support. « Back to top 7. Is financing available? Please contact our office manager for more information: 704-366-8260 « Back to top 8. How long will my child need to come to your center? Regarding 1:1 sessions, some students may only need a few months of instruction to succeed in their typical settings. Others, who have more significant learning or attentional difficulties, may need one year or more in our 1:1 program or in our weekday school program. Once we begin teaching your child, we can observe the rate at which he or she progresses under optimal teaching conditions. This rate helps to predict how much individualized instruction your child will need and for how long. There are no guarantees. « Back to top 9. How much testing is necessary before my child can begin the program? Our purpose for testing your child is to help us determine the starting points of instruction. We test only as much as we need to gather this information. The initial evaluation and placement test is not diagnostic in nature. The in-office portion of the initial evaluation and placement test typically lasts 1 ½-2 ½ hours but this is very much dependent upon the individual child. If you have had your child recently tested by another professional such as a psychologist or neurologist, this information is helpful to us as part of this process to help us develop an instructional program. « Back to top Please note that all information on this website is subject to change and is only representative of policies and procedures.