Celebrate the Children has been providing services for children on the autism spectrum (PDD-NOS), MSDD(Multisystem Developmental Disorder), Regulatory Disorder, ODD, OCD, ADHD, Down's Syndrome, expressive language delay, and mild physical disabilities for over twelve years. Celebrate the Children is a unique program in that it is one of the first to implement the DIR model (the Greenspan-Wieder Developmental Individual Relationship-based therapy) in a comprehensive school program. We are at an important time in the history of education as many people, including public school districts, are recognizing the need for approaches for special needs children that look at overall development and target documented deficit areas such as abstract thinking, problem solving, independence, self esteem, emotions, language, and social interactions in a natural and supportive setting. At this time the demand for this type of intervention is much greater than what educators are currently able to supply.

The Problem: The Demand for DIR services exceeds what our current program can provide. The demand for intervention programs for children with relating and communicating disorders is growing rapidly. One reason is that more children are being diagnosed now than in previous years. The second reason is that, with more children receiving early intervention, there has been an increase in the number of these children entering regular school settings. As more of these children become integrated into the community, the ability for them to be independent takes priority. Parents and professionals need the tools to facilitate independent thinkers and problem solvers resulting in successful experiences for these children. Currently, there are not enough trained professionals or established programs offering these services to the children who need them.

Rationale for this Specific Program: It has been argued that children need cognitive skills, such as independent thinking, problem solving and understanding of social relating, as a foundation to all other learning (Greenspan, 1997). The DSM-IV identifies these areas of deficit in children on the autistic spectrum and other disorders of relating and communicating. However, the lack of teaching in these areas is a weakness in some of the most popular interventions now being used with these children. Traditional approaches to intervention often focus on remediating disruptive behavior and the acquisition of academic skills. Celebrate the Children is an eclectic approach designed to meet the needs of the individual child by providing them with the foundations to be independent thinkers and problem solvers(see philosophy appendix #1) The backbone of the program is the Developmental Individual Relationship-based (DIR) intervention created by Drs. Stanley Greenspan and Serena Wieder. However, structured social skills training, behavior modification techniques, speech and language and academics are incorporated into the DIR model to maximize the child's success. Currently, parents and professionals are recognizing the limitations of traditional approaches and requests for DIR services is increasing at a rapid and steady pace. It is the goal of Celebrate the Children to expand the use of DIR through direct intervention services and the training of other professionals.

The Solution: Celebrate the Children school, currently located in Wharton, NJ. The school currently provides an array of services including comprehensive education and direct intervention with children as well as the continued training of other professionals and parents in DIR. The site itself will include classrooms for students 3 to 18 years old, early intervention for children 0-5 years old, parent and sibling training and support, after school programs and annual summer camps. Off-site services based out of the center will include home programs and training and consultation services to other private and public school districts implementing this model. The goal of this center is to work with, not replace, public school district programs to maximize the success of students in the least restrictive environment.