BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND. This caregiver group involves participation in a Parent Management
Training (Kazdin, 2008) program that aims to enhance parenting skills to manage challenging
behaviours in children, such as aggression, hyperactivity, and non-compliance. The training will take
place virtually in a group session. Handouts will be emailed to participants prior to each scheduled
session.

This program uses a collaborative approach to provide caregivers with the tools they need to prevent challenging behaviours from worsening. Participants will also be equipped with the skills needed to support their children to develop communication and coping strategies in the home environment.

Following a 1-hour consultation meeting with our on-site BCBA/R.B.A., your child will receive 6 hours of 1:1 follow up service/caregiver coaching with our clinical team, at our center, for up to 4 weeks. Session dates and times will be arranged with each individual family.

Facing Your Fears is a family-focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) group therapy program to support autistic children with managing anxiety in everyday life. Please note that this group actively involves BOTH children and a caregiver in each session.

This service is not intended for children who have significant learning problems and who are unable to read at a Grade 2 level. It is also not intended for children who exhibit significant disruptive behaviours that could affect the group sessions, as individual service may be recommended. A brief intake will be conducted over the phone to ensure that the group is a good fit for each child.

A caregiver must attend and participate in each session. The caregiver should remain consistent for each session. Homework completion is required between sessions. A minimum of 4 child/caregiver dyads is required to run this group.

Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a siblings with an ASD diagnosis led by our certified and experienced Sibshops Facilitators. Sibshops Is not therapy, but rather a venue for sibs to have fun, talk about the good and not-so-good parts, play games, learn something about the services/ diagnosis of their brothers or sisters, and have some more fun. This service is intended for those ages 9-18 years of age.

Speech and Language Individual Consultations are designed to allow for caregivers the opportunity to discuss 1-2 concerns they have about their child’s speech and language development. Families will meet with a registered Speech-Language Pathologist for a total of four 1:1 consultations, which will last 45 minutes each, and be offered in-person or virtually.

During the first consultation session, parents/caregivers will meet with the Speech-Language Pathologist to discuss concerns they have regarding their child’s communication development. At this time, functional strategies and goals will be shared with the caregivers to ensure that they have the knowledge and confidence required to allow them to help their child become a more effective communicator in everyday life. This service is designed for families of children who are not yet using verbal words to communicate, use a limited number of words, communicate with a communication device (i.e. PECS, Proloquo, SnapCore), struggle to produce speech sounds, communicate using incomplete sentences, or have difficulties with social communication and interaction with peers. No matter what the need is, we can help!

The remaining 3 consultation sessions will involve either only the parent, or both parent and child. The Speech-Language Pathologist will guide the parent in implementation of the strategies and goals discussed during the first consultation session.

This Social Resilience Builder Group for Teens is intended for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder, aged 13 to 18 years. This group is adapted from The Resilience Builder Program (Alvord, Zucker, & Grados, 2011) that is designed to support individuals to bounce back from stress by developing resilience and protective factors, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, flexible thinking, and social competence. All materials will be provided.

Note: All applicants must undergo an intake interview to determine eligibility.

This workshop is designed to provide caregivers with the tools they need to support their young child on the journey to toileting success. Beginning with a group-based workshop that will empower caregivers with the foundational skills they need to get started, families will then have the opportunity to meet with an instructor therapist and a behaviour analyst on an individual basis to ask specific questions about how their child is progressing. By the end of the program, caregivers will understand how a consistent approach, visual cues and positive reinforcement can be used to foster routines to enable their child to succeed.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND. This service is intended for caregivers or adolescents (age 13+) to receive direct individual support from a psychologist, psychotherapist, or clinical associate working under the supervision of Dr. Matias Mariani to address challenges related to a range of issues (e.g., family problems, parenting stress, bullying at school, worries, etc.). The goal is to provide time-limited counselling to better manage emotions, improve problem-solving, and learn various coping skills.

Children’s Friendship Training is an in-person, evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated children who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. During each small-group session, children learn a new skill and practice it with other group members. Meanwhile, parents learn how to support their children’s social development, coaching them as they practice their skills in the real world. Your child will earn how to make a good first impression, conversing with other children, finding common interests with other children, playing fairly and being gracious when winning or losing, resolving conflicts, joining other children at play, being a good host on a playdate, and showing respect to other children and adults. PLEASE NOTE WE ARE LOOKING FOR A SERVICE AGE GROUP OF AGES 5-7.

This group uses hands-on building projects and science-based activities to help kids develop problem-solving skills, teamwork, and emotional regulation. Through experimentation and design, participants learn to manage frustration, adapt to challenges, and collaborate with peers. Engaging STEM activities create interactive experiences that strengthen communication, perseverance, and critical thinking.

Our Direct BCBA Consultation Service and Caregiver Coaching offers personalized support for caregivers who want to help their child reach specific goals. Through this service, caregivers will work one-on-one with a Registered Behaviour Analyst to develop and implement strategies tailored to their child’s needs. Consultations are available virtually, by phone, or in-person where possible, providing flexibility for families. This service helps caregivers feel confident in their role and empowered to support their child’s development.

This workshop provides an opportunity to learn Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) strategies to teach your child play skills that increase and promote language. Teaching communication skills and expanding your child’s language through play increases skill development across many areas maximizing learning opportunities. There are six individual consults with a BCBA-D included with this workshop. These consultations are individualized specific to implement the strategies reviewed at the workshop with your child.

These workshops and consultation series are recommended for families whose child has recently received an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. After receiving news of a diagnosis, families will navigate through a lot of information to make important decisions about next steps. This series offers 3 workshops, along with 3, 1:1, 30-minute consultations with a BCBA-D. Workshop 1 will provide an overview of various services recommended to families with a child with ASD. Workshop 2 will provide an overview of Autism and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and why ABA is well suited to address ASD. If seeking ABA based services, this information is key for knowing what to look for in providers and how caregiver involvement is key to helping children reach their full potential. Workshop 3 will review things to do as you wait for service that will aid in developing skills and routines in the home to maximize learning from the get-go. The initial consultation is aimed at gathering information that will be pertinent to focusing the workshops on the audience attending, with follow up consultations occurring after Workshop 3 which will focus on implementing ABA strategies in the home with coaching from a BCBA-D.

Small play group - promoting simple activities both fine and gross motor, play and language development. Small group sessions with daily themed activities. Includes some 1:1-time, small group play, and individualized goals identified by the Registered Behaviour Analyst

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is a developmental assessment and curriculum that assesses language, learning, and social skills, as well as behavioural barriers that are interfering with your child’s ability to learn more advanced skills. This assessment program is based upon Applied Behavior Analysis with a focus on Skinner’s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior. The VB-MAPP can help identify your child’s strengths and weaknesses across a variety of critical skills. The assessment also makes it easy to compare and contrast your child’s skills with those of same aged peers.

BCBAs and caregivers troubleshoot, problem solve and consult about a topic of the caregiver’s choice. May be related to skill building, problem behaviour, incorporating ABA principles into daily living, etc. The clinic day consultations are intended to provide general information and may not be suitable for severe challenging behaviour or other complex issues. Please be prepared with some questions or scenarios to direct the conversation.

Your child will learn ways to communicate their needs using words, sounds (i.e., word approximations), or pictures, depending on their current skills. The first session focuses on determining strategies with parents/caregivers, followed by coaching your child to practice communicating with you during the remaining sessions.

This service focuses on helping your child build one specific skill or address a particular challenge. Together, we work on practical goals such as toileting, eating, hygiene, communication, or finding positive alternatives to challenging behaviour. Sessions may include working directly with your child and coaching parents or caregivers so strategies can be used at home and in everyday routines.

Reciprocal Imitation Training is a play-based approach that helps children learn to copy actions during natural play with another person. By imitating the child’s play and gently encouraging the child to copy new actions, we help build engagement, shared play, and social connection. These strategies can be used during playtime and everyday routines at home.

Critical Core is a role playing game that features cooperation between players to achieve goals within the game. Using a game master who facilitates the play, players determine their characters strengths and abilities and use these to work collaboratively with the other players. With a focus on skills that are critical for building relationships and having meaningful social interactions, Critical Core makes learning enjoyable for players.

PEAK is a Relational Training System made up of 4 modules (Direct Training, Generalization, Transformation, and Equivalence). This empirically supported assessment allows for a summary of skills and areas to target for improvement across all modules including: foundational learning skills; perceptual learning skills; verbal comprehension skills; and verbal reasoning, memory, and math skills. The Generalization module can help identify areas to target for skill development to promote the emergence of generalized, flexible, and adaptive language skills that will open the door to many new experiences. The equivalence module evaluates a learner’s current ability to derive novel responses that have never been directly taught. The transformation assessment establishes a learner’s current ability to expressively and receptively relate events in a variety of contexts that promote learning.

More Than Words is a supportive program that helps parents and caregivers learn practical ways to build their child’s communication, play, and imitation skills. Through group sessions and individual visits, families discover what motivates their child, how to keep interactions going, and how to use everyday moments to encourage meaningful communication and connection.

TalkAbility is a supportive program that helps parents learn practical ways to build their child’s people skills. Families learn how to help their child notice social cues, understand others’ thoughts and feelings, take turns in conversation, tell stories, play imaginatively, and make friends. The program gives parents simple strategies to support meaningful back and forth interactions and stronger social connections.

Speech and Language Individual Consultations are designed to allow for caregivers the opportunity to discuss 1-2 concerns they have about their child’s speech and language development. Families will meet with a registered Speech-Language Pathologist for a total of four 1:1 consultations, which will last 45 minutes each, and be offered in-person or virtually.

During the first consultation session, parents/caregivers will meet with the Speech-Language Pathologist to discuss concerns they have regarding their child’s communication development. At this time, functional strategies and goals will be shared with the caregivers to ensure that they have the knowledge and confidence required to allow them to help their child become a more effective communicator in everyday life. This service is designed for families of children who are not yet using verbal words to communicate, use a limited number of words, communicate with a communication device (i.e. PECS, Proloquo, SnapCore), struggle to produce speech sounds, communicate using incomplete sentences, or have difficulties with social communication and interaction with peers. No matter what the need is, we can help!

The remaining 3 consultation sessions will involve either only the parent, or both parent and child. The Speech-Language Pathologist will guide the parent in implementation of the strategies and goals discussed during the first consultation session.