For over a decade, we’ve worked with children and families to provide the highest quality and most meaningful therapeutic services in the Washington DC Metropolitan area.
We recognize each child’s unique gifts and provide families with the tools and confidence to draw out those gifts. We have built a culture that surrounds children in “unconditional love, freedom, and acceptance” allowing the family to experience the authenticity of their child.
We are committed to bridging the connection to you and your child, and your child to the rest of the world.
Executive, holistic activist and entrepreneur, Erin Winston is described by the media as a business savvy, smart empathetic CEO.
Erin is the Founder & CEO of Jacob’s Promise. She set out to serve children with special needs, with a mission to provide holistic methods to families, organizations, and leaders to accelerate connectedness and learning so they can become masters of providing behavior modification to the autistic community.
A former director of behavior therapy of The One World Center for Autism (link: http://www.worldforautism.org/) Erin has the ability to communicate strategic visions to drive business organization goals. Erin is known for her ability to be incredibly intuitive, successfully blending highly customized content with a keen understanding of clients’ needs in her programs and consulting work.
With a unique blend of charisma, humor and empathy, Erin has the uncanny ability to connect with people at all levels, compelling them to make real, lasting change. Yet beneath her powerful assets, she is both authentic and accessible.
As a busy CEO, consultant, media and corporate speaker, Erin practices a holistic lifestyle and being artistically creative and has learned from building Jacob’s Promise unconditional love, freedom and acceptance. She is available for speaking engagements, educational and corporate consulting opportunities.
We provide a comprehensive service that includes a 4-step therapy process. It begins with an assessment to evaluate the learner and family’s individual needs. Second we begin one to one therapy with the learner. Next we provide family training to ensure that the family is equipped with the tools to carry out the treatment plan. Last, we focus on maintenance where we practice those skills learned in the community. All of our services are rooted in the principles of ABA therapy with the goal of helping the learner achieve maximum potential.
ASSESSMENT
Verbal Behavior Assessment-This assessment is designed for learners with language delays. It measures a learner’s conversation skills by measuring their ability to express their needs, label items within the environment, and possess other critical domains that affect one’s ability to communicate. This assessment will not only determine an individual’s current level of communication, but detects barriers that prevent language acquisition, progress throughout treatment, activities that promote communication skills, and guidelines for establishing appropriate IEP goals and individual program design. The results of this assessment will yield an individualized treatment plan used during 1:1 therapy. Allot 2 hours for the assessment, which includes a parent interview.
Functional Behavior Assessment-This assessment is designed for learners with challenging behaviors. Its procedures consist of a systematic attempt to identify sources of reinforcement for behavior. This assessment will identify: (a) situations in which challenging behavior is most likely to occur, and (b) strategies that might be effective as treatment. The results of this assessment will yield an individualized treatment plan used during 1:1 therapy. Allot 2 hours for the assessment, which includes a parent interview.
ONE TO ONE THERAPY
1:1 Therapy– The therapy is rooted in the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), the leading therapy for individuals with autism. Therapy consists of the execution of the individualized treatment plan. The treatment plan consists of goals and procedures to address the learner’s language delays and/or behavior concerns. It also contains ongoing data tracking methods to measure the learner’s performance.
TRAINING
Family Training– Family training personally empowers parents to manage behavior effectively. Parents are taught to carry out ABA strategies independently. Family training consists of:
School Consultation-Ensure your child’s school team remains knowledgeable about ABA techniques in your child’s program. School consultation may include:
MAINTENANCE
Community Based ABA Therapy-The goal of a comprehensive ABA based program is to create socially significant behaviors that create meaningful change in one’s life. Our process allows children the opportunity to practice newly acquired skills in real world settings to promote generality and maintenance.
Changes in behavior range depending on the severity of the child’s needs as well as their history of reinforcement. It is recommended to have continuous therapy up to 1 year or longer to see significant behavior improvements. Parent involvement has been known to produce faster and longer lasting results.
The amount of therapy will depend on the severity of the child’s needs. After the assessment, the behavior analyst may suggest an appropriate amount of therapy per week. A typical ABA program would consist of 10 hours of one to one therapy a week for moderate or severe behaviors.
A family trainer will assess the family’s understanding and implementation of the treatment plan. Parents are taught to carry out ABA strategies independently. Family training personally empowers parents to manage behavior effectively. Parent participation contributes to the intensive hours needed for behavior improvements. Parents are expected to attend each session for family training.
A behavior analyst will focus on targeting behaviors of social significance. They believe in changing behaviors that will increase one’s way of life. These may include but are not limited to increasing communication, decreasing aggression, and decreasing stereotypical behaviors.
The sessions are given in 1-2 hour increments. During that time, the treatment plan will be carried out using structured teaching as well as opportunities for Natural Environment Teaching (NET). Structured teaching allows for implementation of a variety of instructional methods (e.g., visual support strategies, sensory integration strategies, discrete trial etc.). NET is essential for the learner to generalize learned skills in real world setting or situations.
Behavior change shows significant improvements when parents are involved in the treatment plan. This includes input regarding what goals should be addressed as well as the implementation of the treatment plan within the home and community. The collection of data in order to make informed decisions about treatment is what drives behavior therapy. Parents have the responsibility of collecting data and reporting results to the behavior analyst. A parent should be present during therapy sessions and have communication with the behavior technician after each session. If present during sessions, our behavior technicians will provide parent coaching where the technician will focus on facilitating interaction between the parent and the child. The behavior technician will assign specific skills to be worked on after sessions.
The behavior technician will remain knowledgeable on best practices in the field of ABA. He or she will implement the treatment plan designed by the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and communicate with the parent after each session on their child’s progress as well as challenges. He or she will keep updated data and make decisions on the program based on the results of the data.
Jacob’s Promise employs a highly qualified staff of professionals whose passion is to service children with special needs. Staff includes Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs), Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBAs) and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs).
If you feel behavior therapy will meet your child’s needs:
Each insurance provider has a different turn around time. On average, it takes 3-5 business days. In some cases it has taken up to 2 weeks.
Our multi-therapeutic clinic is in Silver Spring, Maryland. We typically services families within a 20-mile radius, which includes Maryland and DC. We offer our telehealth family training for all locations through a secured website. The parent must request for telehealth family training sessions.
Both environments have advantages. The home is considered the natural environment. Since behaviors occur most frequently in the natural environment, it is beneficial to provide services where those behaviors are most occurring. This way, the behavior analyst is able to gather accurate information on what environmental factors are contributing to the behavior.
In the clinic, technicians have more control over the environment and do not have to compete with distractions in the home, which often interfere with the therapy process. The clinic also offers a myriad of additional services consisting of speech and language, multifamily workshops, and respite care. On site BCBAs are always present in the clinic providing additional support to therapy sessions.
