Services

At Play­Date, we believe that every child can learn the strate­gies and behav­iors to nego­ti­ate daily inter­ac­tions and build rela­tion­ships. We offer a full range of ser­vices designed to help chil­dren who strug­gle with social inter­ac­tion because of autism or other behav­ioral dis­abil­i­ties. Com­bin­ing one-​on-​one ther­a­pies, group ses­sions, and respite care and other fam­ily sup­port ser­vices, we can tai­lor a pro­gram to meet the needs and build on the strengths of your child.

All Play­Date loca­tions are acces­si­ble, and groups can accom­mo­date ver­bal, sign, and picture-​based com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems. Chil­dren do not have to be potty trained to par­tic­i­pate in most groups.

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Our staff of qual­i­fied ABA imple­menters, Board Cer­ti­fied Behav­ior Ana­lysts (BCBAs), and Assis­tant Board Cer­ti­fied Behav­ior Ana­lysts (BCaBAs) works one-​on-​one with chil­dren with autism, Asperger syn­drome, PDD-​NOS, and other behav­ioral dis­abil­i­ties. Our imple­menters can help chil­dren from birth to 18 years old to develop skills such as:

  • main­tain­ing per­sonal hygiene
  • man­ag­ing phys­i­cal and ver­bal aggression
  • study­ing and learn­ing strategies

Our in-​home and center-​based inter­ven­tions may also pro­vide life skills coun­sel­ing for young adults with Asperger syn­drome, address­ing behav­ioral man­age­ment strate­gies, job skills, and edu­ca­tional goals.

Rates for one-​on-​one ther­a­pies depend on the expe­ri­ence and edu­ca­tion of the imple­menter. Please con­tact us for more information.

Play­Date offers a range of group ther­apy oppor­tu­ni­ties to pro­vide chil­dren of all ages, from tod­dlers through high school, with oppor­tu­ni­ties to inter­act with other chil­dren, learn crit­i­cal social skills, and just have fun. Play­Date social skills groups provide:

  • Intense prac­tice with one-​to-​one socialization;
  • Oppor­tu­ni­ties for obser­va­tional learn­ing and gen­er­al­iza­tion; and
  • Oppor­tu­ni­ties for new infor­ma­tion learn­ing in a small group.

Most impor­tantly of all, a social skills group gives chil­dren the oppor­tu­nity to make friends!

In all groups, chil­dren are matched by age and devel­op­men­tal level, and adult imple­menters work to gen­tly guide chil­dren toward appro­pri­ate social behav­iors. When­ever pos­si­ble, imple­menters remain observers, allow­ing par­tic­i­pants to learn by doing, to build rela­tion­ships independently.

A child with autism or any other behav­ioral dis­abil­ity makes demands on the entire fam­ily. Besides our Play­Mates parent/​child pro­gram, Play­Date pro­vides a range of ser­vices designed to help fam­i­lies meet those demands, includ­ing both in-​home and on-​site respite care and oppor­tu­ni­ties for par­ents to learn how to help their chil­dren acquire key skills and man­age their behavior.


All Play­Date loca­tions are fully acces­si­ble, and groups can accom­mo­date ver­bal, sign, and picture-​based com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems. All activ­i­ties can accom­mo­date indi­vid­u­als with:

  • food aller­gies and spe­cial diets, includ­ing GFCF
  • G-​tubes or feed­ing aversions
  • aggres­sive behaviors
  • seizures
  • med­ica­tion needs

Ser­vices may be pro­vided directly by a Board Cer­ti­fied Behav­ior Ana­lyst (BCBA), Board Cer­ti­fied Assis­tant Behav­ior Ana­lyst (BCaBA), or imple­menters who are trained and super­vised by a BCBA.

The imple­menters we employ are trained at sev­eral dif­fer­ent lev­els of prac­tice, includ­ing respite and imple­men­ta­tion. Our imple­menters have com­pleted at least 40 hours of class­room train­ing in ABA/​autism and receive on-​going supervision/​training. All staff mem­bers com­plete a train­ing pro­gram with expe­ri­enced ther­a­pists prior to pro­vid­ing any ser­vices either at the Cen­ter or in the home. When imple­menters pro­vide direct ser­vices to a client, a BCBA acts as the con­sul­tant by devel­op­ing pro­grams, mon­i­tor­ing progress, and mak­ing nec­es­sary changes to the pro­gram. All staff mem­bers, includ­ing BCaBAs, are super­vised by a BCBA. This super­vi­sion includes meet­ing weekly with the staff to review the client’s pro­gram. Imple­menters may be rotated in or out of a sched­ule for var­i­ous rea­sons, includ­ing attempts to increase gen­er­al­iza­tions. Since every imple­menter may not be a “match” for every fam­ily, the BCBA work­ing with your child will strive to achieve the best match between each child, fam­ily, and staff

Pro­gram Devel­op­ment is used to effec­tively build an appro­pri­ate client spe­cific inter­ven­tion plan and skill-​building pro­gram. This pro­gram ensures con­sis­tency of ser­vice pro­vi­sion among staff and par­ents. This time is also used to eval­u­ate the effec­tive­ness of the daily inter­ven­tion, iden­tify any needed mod­i­fi­ca­tions for future ses­sions, and meet with staff about the client.

PlayDate News

February 2012 Newletter

January Newsletter 2012

Decemeber Newsletter 2011