If you have visited a BehaviorSpan center, you probably noticed that when you walk in you immediately see our playground. We have put great effort into making our playgrounds spark imagination. Our playgrounds are over 1,000 sqft. They are indoor forests, including life-sized trees, rocks, ponds, and play structures to climb on. The walls are custom painted by a local artist with murals of exotic and exciting scenes. The Denver center has a wall-sized ice wall that has over 100 controllable Philips Hue lights that make colorful patterns and scenes. It also has a colorful play structure designed by Denver artist TreeNet Willy. Our playgrounds are one expense upon which we do not compromise.
As an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy center, why do we dedicate so much space and resources to our center’s playgrounds? This is a great question. This decision is very intentional on our part- based on a core value of our organization. This article will discuss why this is so important to BehaviorSpan, and maybe encourage others to consider it as well.
BehaviorSpan provides Early Intervention ABA services to children ages 1-5 years old with Autism and developmental delays. We mostly work with children who are non-verbal when they start with us. Our clinical model is to help them learn to communicate, function independently, and prepare them to go out into the world without the need for further ABA services. Most other clinics devote as much space in their center as possible to therapy spaces, such as classrooms and social skills rooms. We also have a great deal of therapy space, but we think it’s as important to also have space for fun and imagination. have also consistently created playgrounds that are at least 1,000 sqft. We consider fun to be central to our clinical and business models.
Clinically, children that are having fun are learning more quickly. Learning occurs through reinforcement. When children that are excited and engaged, they are contacting more reinforcement. You have probably noticed that the things you have learned to do best, such as hobbies, are the ones that you have fun doing. Who would master the complicated skills required to play golf if they didn’t have fun playing it? We want children to wake up excited to come to our center (and maybe even be a little sad to leave at the end of the day). We want them to see the playground first thing when they walk in. It sets the tone for the whole day.
This doesn’t mean that we let children play all day. Our clinical program is highly structured. Our children probably work harder than at most ABA companies. Children at BehaviorSpan are working on between 40 and 50 skill programs at any given time. They do as many as 250 learning trials a day. They are working hard while also having fun and staying engaged.
The playgrounds helps our clinical model a great deal with new clients that have severe problem behavior. Another of our core values is that we never use restraints with any of our children. When we get a new child we use the fun environment to help them enjoy being at the center. They initially spend a lot of time with their therapist in the playground and other fun areas. They build a relationship with their therapist based on fun. This keeps their problem behaviors low. When they are actively engaged in the center and their problem behaviors are at a minimum, we slowly fade in expectations. “You can keep having fun, but let’s do a little work first.” In this way, the child learns to tolerate learning new skills without lashing out. This is a big part of why we are so effective at reducing difficult problem behaviors, and why we never need restraint or negative consequences. As the child progresses through our program, the playground and other fun activities remain strong rewards that they earn. Of course, there are a lot of individualized learning programs we use with each child. The setting makes these much easier to use. The child wanting to be at the center and having fun shapes the dynamic and avoids power struggles.
From a business perspective, our playgrounds benefit the business for very much the same reason. Obviously, helping the clinical model benefits the business processes in countless ways. We don’t believe in a distinction between providing great services and providing profitable services. Great clinical results make it easier to get new clients, keep the clients we have, etc. Making the children happy also benefits the business. Happy children have happy parents. When a parent drops their child off, seeing that playground and their child’s eyes light up sends a potent unspoken message to them: We value your child and their happiness, and you can feel confident leaving them with us. You can relax.
For the above reasons, BehaviorSpan will always have a big, outrageous playground at the forefront of each of our centers. Welcome to place that celebrates fun because we value effective learning.
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