Integrated Preschool Program

Our L.E.A.P. (The Learning Experiences an Alternative Program for Preschoolers and Parents) preschool program is a fully-inclusive preschool model for young children with autism and their typical peers. It is grounded in the principles and strategies of applied behavior analysis and utilizes a variety of evidence-based practices embedded within naturally occurring daily preschool activities. In this model, typically developing peers, as young as 30 months, are taught to utilize facilitative social and communicative initiations with their peers with autism.

Research demonstrates significant improvements in children with autism, compared with comparison cohort, on measures of cognitive, language, social, problem behavior, and autism symptoms.

Additionally, it shows that participating typical peers engaged in fewer disruptive or inappropriate behaviors, had increased social competence with other typical children, and were more positive and accepting of disabilities, as compared to their most social, typically-developing, same-age peers.