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Inside the Domino Classroom

Domino is housed in a brightly colored and kid-friendly classroom on the campus of EWU.  A visitor will see twelve eager and engaged preschool-aged children playing, creating, reading, working on projects, all supervised by teachers, therapists and aides.  The environment is rich and dynamic, the activities purposeful and well organized.  What may not be evident to a casual observer, however, are the foundational principles on which the program is based, principles based upon the science of human learning behavior. 

• Foundational skills such as imitating and attending are taught in order to strengthen the child's ability to learn more complex skills.  Central to any plan is increasing the child's ability to "learn how to learn." 
• As foundational skills develop, more complex skills are targeted with respect to developmental appropriateness, meaning and function for each child.
• Every facet of the program, such as the selection of targeted objectives, instructional delivery, reinforcement, and necessary levels of assistance for success, are individualized according to the needs and the learning styles of each child.
• Every skill is broken down into smaller, teachable units to increase learning success.  Positive reinforcement is used to develop new skills.   
• Instruction is monitored and data is collected, graphed and reviewed continuously to insure successful learning for every student.  If the student is not progressing, teaching is modified to better respond to the need of the learner. 
• The progress of each student is measured by the degree to which skills are mastered and generalized to more natural settings, such as at home and in the community.
• Central to any successful program is maximizing every child's motivation to learn through strategic reinforcement.   

  "The staff of Domino Project are here to respond the developmental, social and emotional needs of your child with experience, care and love." 

Intensive, Individualized, and Evidence-based

Signs of autism typically appear between the ages of birth and three years of age.  With improved methods of identification, children are being diagnosed more accurately and quickly.  While most parents seek immediate treatment, many are surprised to learn that even for their two year-old toddler, an intensive educational and behavioral program may offer the best outcomes.  Domino Project is a center-based full-time and year-round intensive early intervention program for young children between two and five years of age.

Intensive...

Intensity of intervention is judged by autism experts to be a critical factor in the success of early intervention programs, and is typically measured by the time a child is actively engaged in learning activities.  Research shows that from 25 to 40 hours per week of evidence based intervention provides the greatest improvements for young children with autism.

"But my son is only two..still my baby!" 
For some parents, early intensive intervention just seems like too much too soon. But the brain grows quickly during these early years, as do the foundational skills for learning language, communication and social-emotional abilities.  These are the very areas that challenge growth and development for children affected with autism spectrum disorders.  Intensively delivered early intervention cannot cure autism, but it is proven to significantly mediate the impact of autism on a child's ability to learn and grow. 

Individualized...

Effective intervention must be tailored specifically to each child's unique strengths and needs  This means that instructional materials, strategies and activities are adapted to every individual's learning style, pace, ability and interests.  Individualized education can occur in many settings, and through one-on-one and group instruction.

Evidence-based..

Hundreds of autism treatments have been developed over the past two decades, but not all have been proven to help improve outcomes for children.  Northwest Autism Center supports continued research into all approaches that show promise of success, but uses only those which have been empirically proven to make a difference.