ABS Opens New Cottonwood Heights Therapy Center for Children with Autism
Alternative Behavior Strategies is excited to announce the grand opening of the new Cottonwood Heights Therapy Center, to be held this Tuesday, November 5. Located just south of Salt Lake City, the 12,000 square-foot center offers full-day therapy programs that provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism. It has the capacity to provide center-based services for 100 children per day.
Center-based ABA therapy provides parents the opportunity to drop their child off to receive services. ABA therapy programs are customized to each child but are likely to be highly intensive (30-40 hours per week) for young children. The children will have enhanced oversight and supervision by their therapy team and, because the child is in the same space and working with the same behavior interventionists, there is additional consistency in their therapy. Receiving the number of ABA therapy hours a child is prescribed offers the child a greater opportunity to progress. Receiving center-based services provides a learning space specially designed for children with developmental delays like ASD. It offers more opportunities for socialization and generalization which lead to better outcomes.
“The ABA Therapy Center of the future is now officially here,” said Jeff Skibitsky, MA, BCBA, LBA, president of ABS. “What excites us the most about this facility is that it gives us greater capacity to support and treat a larger number of children with autism. ABA therapy is an intense treatment that can require as much as 40 hours of therapy per week in order for the child to receive the maximum benefit. With our center-based treatment, children will be able to have their prescribed number of treatment hours and appropriate level of intensive therapy with minimal family disruption.”
The center offers a consolidated approach to treating children with autism. It also features a variety of innovations designed to help prepare children with autism to access group learning and social environments by practicing transitions, engaging in small and large group activities, cooperative play with peers and following group instruction.
Learning in a group environment that caters to the needs of children with autism potentially gives them a head start before going into a preschool or kindergarten. Children at the center will have access to an array of tools designed to make ABA therapy a fun learning experience—including gated and secure outdoor playground area with rubber flooring and play equipment. These features help them learn how to do things other children may already know how to do and provide an opportunity for social engagement. So there is no disruption due to inclement weather, an indoor gross motor space houses an indoor gym that includes swings and an indoor playset with a slide and climbing wall. There are also separate classrooms for individual and group work.
“It has been clinically proven that early intervention helps children with autism reach their greatest potential, and this new ABA center is ready to provide top-quality care for those children under six years of age who have been prescribed intensive ABA therapy,” said Skibitsky.
The new Cottonwood Heights Therapy Center will celebrate its grand opening on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Members of the community are invited to attend the festivities, tour the facility and ask questions of the ABS staff.
The center is located at 6910 S. Highland Drive, Suite 1, Cottonwood Heights, UT 84121; phone number (801) 935-4171. It will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.
About Alternative Behavior Strategies
Alternative Behavior Strategies (ABS) is dedicated to providing services to children with developmental delays and their families. The company provides wrap-around care enabling children and their families to obtain the services they need in one place. Services include applied behavior analysis (ABA), and speech therapy and occupational therapy designed to complement ABA services, as well as diagnostic evaluations and social skills groups. ABS operates in California, Utah and North Carolina. ABS is designated as a Top Behavioral Service Provider by the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. For more information: https://abskids.com
