Ethos and Mission Statement

To support individuals with a diagnosis of autism and their families; assisting them to achieve their full potential and participate in their family and community life, through the provision of holistic evidence based services, celebrating each individuals dignity, uniqueness and right to an optimal education.

What this Ethos means to Saplings, Limited
The students of all Saplings schools are entitled to an educational program that is specifically suited and tailored to their needs. This entails that all educational programs written (Individual Education Plans, Long-Term Plans, Short-Term Plans, and Lesson Plans) will be based on the results of formal assessments that are carried out, to ensure that every goal targeted in the plans is at the right level for each student. The assessments that should be carried out for each program include, but are not limited to, the ABLLS, VB-MAPP, PEP-III, and CALS. Curriculum subject areas and objectives within each subject area are to be assessed with a student before it is put in to their plan, again to ensure that each objective put in to a plan is at the right level for each student. The objectives targeted in the educational programs should largely be based on deficits shown from the assessments conducted, although the manner in which each objective is taught may play on a student’s strengths.

Each student’s short-term plan and daily/weekly lesson plan should include measurable, observable behavioural objectives for each task. The daily/weekly lesson plans, which are developed from the teacher’s short-term plans, are the responsibility of the SNA’s, under the supervision and guidance of the teacher. These daily/weekly lesson plans should guide the student’s day and each task should be written in observable and measurable objectives.

Data on each task from the daily/weekly lesson plan that the SNA reinforces under the guidance and supervision of the teacher should be taken each day, in addition to any Behaviour Support Plan goals. This data should be plotted on Standard Celeration Charts or an electronic graphing system each day. The educational and behavioural goals, tasks, objectives will be changed by analysing the data on the charts/graphs. When there is a downward, upward, or static trend in the data for a particular task/goal/objective, a change should be made in some way to the task/goal. The SNA’s will analyse this data on a daily basis and inform the teachers and behaviour analysts of any trend that they see. All Saplings SNA’s will be trained to recognize data trends and The teachers and behaviour analysts will also do at least weekly data reviews and analyse this data and guide the SNA’s as to how to change or alter a task/goal/objective.

Professional Relationships Required to Support the Ethos:
The School Principal and Director/Behaviour Analyst should work and be seen as a unified team, leading the school together. While each position has different roles and responsibilities within the school, they are expected to work together to uphold the Saplings Ethos, to develop the School Plan, and to move the school forward in keeping with the high standards set forth by the Patron Body and Board of Management.

Within each school there should be one or more specialist support staff specifically trained to help and support the Director/Behaviour Analyst, the classroom teachers, the classroom staff, and the Principal. This person should have skills in Applied Behaviour Analysis, while a Master’s degree in Applied Behaviour Analysis and Board Certification in Behaviour Analysis is preferable. If there is no one within the school, other than the Director/Behaviour Analyst, with these skills, qualifications, and experience, an SNA may be trained up by the Director/Behaviour Analyst to become a specialist support staff.

The specialist support staff will serve to help and support the Behaviour Analyst in areas like helping to monitor the implementation of Behaviour Support Plans within the classrooms, helping to train in new staff members in ABA principles and in individual students’ BSPs, helping to analyse student BSP data, helping to generate ideas for BSP interventions, helping to respond to challenging behaviours and crisis calls with the students, helping to train staff members and the public in Professional Crisis Management procedures and interventions, etc.

The specialist support staff will serve to help and support the classroom teachers in areas like helping to monitor the implementation of educational plans within the classrooms, helping to train in new staff members in individual students’ educational programs, helping to analyse student educational data, helping to generate ideas for educational interventions, helping to respond to challenging behaviours and crisis calls with the students, etc.

The specialist support staff will serve to help and support the classroom staff in areas like helping to support them in running the students’ BSPs and educational programs within the classrooms, helping to maintain their high level of training and skills in ABA, helping them by analysing behavioural and educational data with them and generating new ideas when a change needs to be made, helping to respond to challenging behaviours and crisis calls with the students, etc.

The specialist support staff will serve to help and support the Principal by helping the above staff in all of the above areas and to lead on various school projects.