Newsletter
Volume 29 | 2006 | Number 1
2006 ABA Organizational Member
Spectrum Center
Spectrum Center is a non-public school that has been serving students in need of special education services in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1975. We specialize in providing behavioral support to students at a level of expertise not typically available in public school classrooms. The students we serve, ages 3 to 22, have a variety of diagnoses including autism, moderate to severe mental retardation, hearing, physical and visual impairments, traumatic brain injury, and/or emotional disturbance.
The majority of the Spectrum Center classrooms can be divided into three different categories. The autism-specific classroom serves students who have a diagnosis of autism. Lessons emphasize a strong language development curriculum, social development, and high-rate learning trials to address academic needs. The functional skills classroom serves students who are focusing on functional academics and daily living skills. Finally, the academic classroom focuses on using curriculum-based measures to assess the students’ academic progress within the typical school district curriculum guidelines. Additional resources are used to ensure academic progress for all students.
For many of our students, challenging behaviors interfere with learning. Therefore, the Education Coordinators, staff members with expertise in behavior analysis and special education, conduct a functional analysis regarding the challenging behavior. Once the Education Coordinator determines the function of the behavior, he/she develops a behavior intervention plan. This plan includes antecedent strategies, replacement behaviors, methods to reinforce the replacement behaviors, and consequence-based strategies the staff may implement when the challenging behavior occurs. Spectrum Center uses non-aversive, positive strategies to reduce challenging behaviors. This functional assessment and subsequent behavior intervention plan are presented for approval to the Individual Education Plan Team. Once approved, the Education Coordinator trains the classroom staff to implement the behavior intervention plan and provides feedback as necessary.
The Senior Clinician, a staff member with expertise in behavior analysis as it relates to special education and organizational behavior management, oversees the functional analysis and behavior intervention plan process for quality assurance. The Senior Clinician is also responsible for training new Education Coordinators regarding their responsibilities, ensuring that the training plan for all staff on campus is implemented, and conducting research on student skill acquisition, behavior reduction, and staff training. The Senior Clinician is also responsible for maintaining the overall behavioral systems for his/her respective campus.
Due to continued growth, Spectrum Center is currently seeking qualified candidates interested in the Education Coordinator and Senior Clinician positions.
This section of the newsletter introduces ABA’s organizational members. ABA is pleased to announce a new 2006 organizational member, Spectrum Center. Organizational members prepare a description of their work and services to introduce themselves to the larger ABA community. The inclusion of this material is not an endorsement, authorization, sponsorship or affiliation by ABA of these members or their work and services or of the content of the material they present.