| Therapeutic Program |Academic Program | Play | | The Physical Environment |

Therapeutic Program

Speech and language therapy is available to all WLC students, and is based on individual need.  Therapy may include oral motor facilitation, articulation therapy, social pragmatics, and language therapy.  The approaches used in each child’s therapy are contextually based and multi-modal.  This means that the therapist evaluates a child’s needs and strength, and combines different aspects of learning in order to facilitate a student’s functional communication skills.

Occupational Therapy                                                               

Occupational therapy is available to all WLC students and is also based on individual needs.  Occupational therapy services address each student’s individual sensory profile, their ability to attend to tasks and self-regulate, as well as their ability to initiate and maintain engagement and back and forth communicative gestures with adults and peers.  Therapy also addresses a child’s gross and fine motor development as related to academic, functional, and play skills as well as praxis/motor planning capacities.  Therapists work in close collaboration with all classroom teachers at WLC in order to provide integrated services and to assist students in learning and in becoming more successful in their interactions with the social world. 

Integrated Play Groups

Integrated Play Groups, developed by Dr. Pamela Wolfberg, is an inclusive peer play model found to be effective in enhancing reciprocal and social interaction, communication and imagination in children with autism and related social-communicative needs.  With a trained facilitator, inclusive small groups of children with autism (novice players) and typically developing peers (expert players) participate together around highly motivating activities in a specially designed play environment.  Integrated Play Groups is offered to all students at WLC because of the social challenges common to children with autism. 

Music Therapy

Music therapy groups are available for all students at Wings.  These groups are facilitated by a board certified music therapist.  A typical music therapy group includes singing, movement and rhythm making.  Through active musical experiences students gain skills in rhythm, melody, pitch, and expressive movement.  Non-musical goals include: improving and increasing positive social skills, verbal and nonverbal communication, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving, and self expression.

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