Autism
Spotlight On
Spotlight On: EarlyVention
Sydney Gutierrez
•
January 24, 2017
EarlyVention was created through a lifetime of working with individuals with special needs. Melissa and Elizabeth Ames started working with the special needs community in high school. They served as Early Childhood teacher’s aides for a summer program that they discovered through their late mother, a Director of Special Education.
Fast forward a few years and these sisters became the 4th generation of their family to contribute to this community. Melissa became an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) home therapist and Special Education Teacher. While in the field, she observed that parents lacked hands-on resources to help them be more successful at home with children with special needs. Elizabeth, a business minded individual, pursued her MBA with the end goal of starting a business with her sister to address this need.
Be the change you want to see in the world. That was what their parents instilled in the sisters and what Elizabeth and Melissa set out to do when they launched EarlyVention. Melissa began preparing prototypes of the materials she had created and used during her 16 years as an ABA home therapist and teacher while Elizabeth entered their business idea into competitions for initial funding. The rest is history.
EarlyVention now exists as an ecosystem of impact. They have partnered up with St. Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. School for Exceptional Children and LifeStyles Academy to offer vocational opportunities to adults with disabilities who help cut, laminate, velcro and sort materials that go into EarlyVention’s activity boxes. The subscription boxes include six hands-on activities carefully designed by Melissa to be fun for children to play with and to simultaneously help parents reinforce skill development. Each activity is also designed to be interactive to help parents engage and communicate with the children they love. Thanks to a grant they received from Autism Speaks, the sisters were able to buy an industrial printer, enabling them to cut costs enough to donate some of these boxes to disadvantaged families.
What makes these boxes so special? They are crafted with two vital aspects that other options don’t consider - the parents and parent-child interaction. They are designed to be easy to use with children with autism and other needs, based on popular children’s themes styled with plenty of repetition so kids can better focus their attention and participate. These boxes also include stories that guide kids into making choices that reinforce positive behavior, as well as enough materials to enjoy an individual sensory bin each month. As if that wasn’t enough, EarlyVention also includes lots of visual support to help boost language development, decrease anxiety and increase independence. See a few box themes below!
If you are interested in purchasing a box for yourself or a loved one you can sign up here!
Fast forward a few years and these sisters became the 4th generation of their family to contribute to this community. Melissa became an ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) home therapist and Special Education Teacher. While in the field, she observed that parents lacked hands-on resources to help them be more successful at home with children with special needs. Elizabeth, a business minded individual, pursued her MBA with the end goal of starting a business with her sister to address this need.
Be the change you want to see in the world. That was what their parents instilled in the sisters and what Elizabeth and Melissa set out to do when they launched EarlyVention. Melissa began preparing prototypes of the materials she had created and used during her 16 years as an ABA home therapist and teacher while Elizabeth entered their business idea into competitions for initial funding. The rest is history.
EarlyVention now exists as an ecosystem of impact. They have partnered up with St. Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. School for Exceptional Children and LifeStyles Academy to offer vocational opportunities to adults with disabilities who help cut, laminate, velcro and sort materials that go into EarlyVention’s activity boxes. The subscription boxes include six hands-on activities carefully designed by Melissa to be fun for children to play with and to simultaneously help parents reinforce skill development. Each activity is also designed to be interactive to help parents engage and communicate with the children they love. Thanks to a grant they received from Autism Speaks, the sisters were able to buy an industrial printer, enabling them to cut costs enough to donate some of these boxes to disadvantaged families.
What makes these boxes so special? They are crafted with two vital aspects that other options don’t consider - the parents and parent-child interaction. They are designed to be easy to use with children with autism and other needs, based on popular children’s themes styled with plenty of repetition so kids can better focus their attention and participate. These boxes also include stories that guide kids into making choices that reinforce positive behavior, as well as enough materials to enjoy an individual sensory bin each month. As if that wasn’t enough, EarlyVention also includes lots of visual support to help boost language development, decrease anxiety and increase independence. See a few box themes below!
If you are interested in purchasing a box for yourself or a loved one you can sign up here!Industry News from CapGrow
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