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About Us

Our Mission

To empower families in order to meet their children’s developmental and educational needs by providing evidence-based intervention so they have the capacity to live an independent life or at their fullest potential.

Our Values and our Goals

Leaps Ahead Early Intervention is dedicated to providing effective intervention to address our main goal of “helping children to learn how to learn”. At leaps Ahead Early Intervention, we understand that effective intervention can help a child to enhance independence in all areas of life. We work towards our goals by building age appropriate skills and utilising evidence-based strategies to reduce challenging behaviours.

The Leaps Ahead Early Intervention team’s goals are:

To provide children with the foundation to develop their independence, communication, pre-academic, social, sensory, motor, problem-solving skills and their capacity to self-regulate.
To provide quality programs that are developmentally appropriate for the ages and specific needs of the children we work with.
To ensure every child is given the best opportunity to reach their full potential in life.
To ensure that Tasmanian families have access to quality learning programs across our state.
To empower parents and carers in order to facilitate their teaching roles with their children.
To empower families with strategies to help their children develop self-determination skills.
To generalise learning across different settings and people.
To help our children develop functional and age appropriate play skills.
To teach children self-regulating strategies to support the effectiveness and enjoyment of other professional services that they may access such as Speech pathologists and Dentists.
To set the path for the effectiveness and enjoyment of other services that children may be accessing, by teaching them self-regulating strategies. We want children to enjoy community activities such as sports and festivals.
To educate other service providers about evidence-based practices to facilitate children’s learning including schools, childcare centres, and other professionals.

What is Applied Behaviour Analysis?

Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is a scientifically proven method that has had over 40 years of empirical research within the field of Autism and early intervention. The published research studies have documented the effectiveness of ABA across a wide range of settings and behaviours. Behaviours strands include: language, social, academic, and functional life skills. ABA breaks skills down to their most simple-form, so the child can learn. These skills are practiced intensively and then generalised across multiple settings with different people.

ABA uses a variety of learning techniques to help children learn. These include Discrete Trial Training (DTT), PECS, Video model, Natural environment teaching, Incidental teaching, Pivotal skills training, Chaining, and Shaping.

DTT is one of the most important instructional methods for children with autism. DTT is primarily teacher initiated, this method breaks down the skills to be learned in simple steps.

At Leaps Ahead Early Intervention, we continue to evolve on the ABA learning and place great emphasis on the generalisation and spontaneity of skills learned. We seek to create scenarios where children take initiative in building up their own learning.

Leaps Ahead Early Intervention offers expert supervision and training for parents, school educators, therapy assistants, and for anyone who is involved in the child’s learning programs. Our experienced supervisors offer professional guidance and support throughout all stages of the child’s learning process.

We offer supervision in person or online for those families outside Hobart who sometimes need the service promptly and cannot wait for us to arrange travel.

Is your child struggling to learn?

We can help by using evidence-based methods like Applied Behaviour Analysis and Positive Behaviour Support to help your child with autism or other developmental delays improve essential life skills and help children learn.