Skip to content

Life Skills Autism Academy to open in Plano

Next week, a new education center offering individualized ABA therapy plans for children on the autism spectrum will open in Plano.
P1028498.00_01_56_28.Still002

Next week, a new education center offering individualized ABA therapy plans for children on the autism spectrum will open in Plano. Life Skills Autism Academy will be staffed with board-certified clinicians will provide consistently-scheduled treatment plans for every child to target skill development in a one-on-one setting.

Life Skills Autism Academy offers several programs to help tune each child’s social and communication skills. Each Life Skills student will also receive classroom readiness training in order to prepare them for a school setting.

Read more: Why did this Plano mom donate her kidney to a total stranger?

“Right now, there is oftentimes a delay for parents to get their children into services,” says Kim Gorham, clinical director at Life Skills Autism Academy. “We’re all about reducing those barriers and getting kids served as quickly as possible.”

A classroom-style setting at Life Skills Autism Academy designed to help the students with school-readiness | Photo credit: Alex Gonzalez

At Life Skills Autism Academy, each student will receive 30 hours of intensive ABA therapy per week. The academy will be accepting students as young as 18 months of age to as old as five years of age.

“We’re really expecting to fill a need in our community,” says Treva Fairman, Vice President at Life Skills Autism Academy. “There are a lot of children who are diagnosed with autism or need a diagnosis still. We’re here to support them any way we can, whether it be through the diagnosis process, or by providing ABA therapy.”

Interactive games for Life Skills Autism Academy students | Photo credit: Alex Gonzalez

In addition to working on social and communication skills, children at Life Skills Autism Academy will be able to work one-on-one with behavior specialists. They will also be able to interact with other students in classroom-like settings and play games. Behavior specialists will also work with students to help them learn to vocalize their needs, ask for things they want and curb bad behaviors like throwing tantrums.

Read more: 29 Acres to open living community for adults with autism

“I’m really excited about this model,” says Anna Beth Ball, BCBA. “What makes Life Skills Autism Academy unique is that we’ll be able to do that focused one-on-one therapy, as well as work on school-readiness skills.”

Life Skills Autism Academy will begin classes on Tuesday, September 3.