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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).
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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.
Effective instruction only works when the child
has sufficient practice to develop the skill. Therefore,
once we determine the most effective instructional
methods, we develop a daily practice schedule to
ensure that your child gets the intensity of instruction
he or she needs to make good progress. This schedule
includes the practice your child receives with us,
at pre-school and at home with you.
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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 intruction,
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.
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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 don’t feel so isolated. Second, we train
you to be our co-teacher. As a co-teacher, you reinforce
the instructional goals at home. This home reinforcement
is an essential part of the treatment program. It
teaches your child to use the skills he or she learns
with us in different settings and with different
teachers. This leads to true skill mastery.
We have strategies for training parents to be co-teachers.
As part of the 1:1 program, we train you to use
specific techniques during or at the end of each
session when the teacher works with your child.
The teacher models the teaching strategy several
times then coaches you as you practice using them
with your child. The teacher also models how to
deal with any noncompliant behavior your child might
engage in. For students in the weekday program,
daily communication including daily practice activities
and/or homework activities are sent home most nights.
These activities contain suggestions for you to
help carry over what has been introduced at school
into the home environment. Progress notes and parent-teacher
conferences are also excellent forums for parent
coaching and training. If you feel you need more
time, we are happy to schedule additional meeting
times and/or to have you participate in the case
management program. The Cyzner Institute Curriculum
Notebook and Parents’ Guide to the Curriculum Notebook
are also excellent resources for you.
Once you are comfortable teaching a specific skill
to your child and managing an any misbehavior, you
begin teaching the skill at home. Materials can
be provided for you which are often scripted, and
contain easy, step-by-step procedures for you to
follow. If you feel you lack the skills and precision
your child’s teacher has, don’t worry. You efforts
will still have tremendous and beneficial impact
on your child’s development.
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5.
Are
your services guaranteed? How will I know if my
child is making progress?
We guarantee the delivery of our service. We follow
a written system of accountability that shows you
at any given time the skills we teach your child,
the skills he or she has learned, your child’s
rate of progress and his or her work output.
Our director and teaching staff regularly review
your child’s developmental growth with each
other, with you and with other professsionals who
may work with your child, such as his or her pre-school
teacher or speech/language therapist. (Communications
with pre-school teachers often include observing
your child in his or her classroom and training
the teacher to help him or her generalize the skills
learned at CI.)
These frequent communications allow us to determine
if your child’s work with us contributes to
improved functioning and an increase in self-confidence.
They also reveal to us any changes we need to make
in your child’s instructional program.
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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 tuitions vary.
The rates are higher when students work one-to-one
with a teacher and lower when they work in a two-to-one
situation or in small groups. While our monthly
tuition is higher than regular pre-schools, we can
offer what they can’t, highly focused and
customized instruction. This leads to greater and
faster progress.
Our hourly rates are one-third to one-half lower
than those of most speech/language or occupational
therapists. While we certainly don’t replace
the need for these therapists, we do follow through
with their treatment programs at affordable prices.
This allows parents and children to maximize the
benefit they receive from speech/language or occupational
therapy.
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7. Is
financing available?
Yes. Through Manus Academy, we have arranged arranged
for third-party financing through SLM Financial,
a Sallie Mae company. SLM Financial makes long-term
loans at competitive interest rates to qualified
families. Similar to college loans, families pay
off the loans at relatively low monthly payments
over an extended time. People interested in applying
for a loan may contact our office manager for an
application.
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8. How
long will my child need to come to your center?
Regarding 1:1 sessions, some students need only
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
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 predict
how much individualized instruction your child will
need and for how long.
To keep you up-to-date, we chart your child’s progress
toward his or her developmental and/or academic
goals and share these results with you regularly
and through progress notes. We also assess long-term
progress by post-testing children each year.
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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 exact goals you child should work
toward and the starting points of instruction. We
test only as much as we need to gather this information.
We do not diagnose your child.
The complete testing process from the in-office
evaluation to the written report can range anywhere
from two to five hours. 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 development an instructional program.
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©2005-2006
The Cyzner Institute - All Rights Reserved |
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7022 Sardis Road
Charlotte, NC 28270
phone 704-366-8260
fax - 704-366-8210
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monday-friday
morning & afternoon sessions |
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