24/07/2025
As a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), one of my goals is to prepare children for success in the community and classroom. That begins with teaching the foundational, functional skills children need to participate, communicate, and thrive.
At Empowered Pathways, our BCBAs use modern, assent-based, client-led ABA practices—approaches that prioritize meaningful progress, dignity, and joy in every session.
That means no cookie-cutter programs—just individualized, research-backed strategies rooted in each child’s unique strengths and needs.
So, what does school readiness look like through the lens of ABA therapy?
🔹 Functional Communication – Whether verbal, AAC, PECS®, or sign, we help children learn to request, respond, protest, and engage socially in ways that work for them.
🔹 Social and Group Learning Skills – Many learners with autism struggle with attending to others, sharing space, or tolerating peers. We build these skills through play-based, naturalistic interactions that support classroom readiness.
🔹 Emotional and Behavioral Regulation – We teach coping strategies, replacement behaviors, and flexibility to reduce the negative impacts of restricted or repetitive behavior patterns in new environments.
🔹 Daily Living Skills – Toileting, handwashing, dressing, and other self-care skills are addressed when linked to behavior patterns or skill deficits that impact independence (e.g., escape-maintained behaviors, sensory aversions, or skill-based delays).
🔹 Pre-Academic Learning Routines – Instead of academic drills, we focus on instructional readiness: sitting for short periods, responding to teaching cues, joint attention, imitation, matching, and discrimination—foundational learning behaviors critical to school success.
🌟 By embedding these goals in meaningful, play-based contexts, children are motivated to engage—and when they say “yes” to learning, real growth begins.
If you're wondering what school readiness could look like for your child through ABA therapy, we’d love to connect.
📧 hello@empoweredpathways.com
