Max and Friends is a unique way of promoting quality educational progress for children with Autism in the most natural of settings.
Autism statistics are increasing yearly at an alarming rate. With more and more students diagnosed with Autism, it is essential that they have quality programming for their unique educational needs. Students with Autism can have a variety of deficits and “splinter” skills. This means that they may have deficits in one area but not another. Many of these splinter skills are in the area of communication, socialization and cognitive development. If you use the analogy of building a house, you cannot build a solid structure unless you have a solid foundation. If the foundation has gaps or cracks, they must be filled immediately or the building will tumble. Many of the splinter skills for children with Autism are the prerequisite skills for learning resulting in gaps in their educational foundation. Max and Friends helps fill some of these gaps.
Video modeling has also become a player in the world of educating students with Autism. Video modeling is the process of videotaping sequences of actions and instructing students to imitate the actions when watching the videotape. This has been a great tool in helping to teach students with Autism to imitate and generalize skills. Generalization is the key to the ongoing education of students with Autism. Skills are not practical if the child cannot apply them to more than one setting. Schools have attempted to provide such programs, but often lack the materials, curriculum or experience. While many excellent programs exist, there are those that lack the understanding and provide incorrect, monotonous programming.
This is where Max and Friends comes in. We have combined a number of approaches to created a developmental/ interactive program curriculum. It is where Max and Friends comes from that makes it different from other ABA based programs. The discrete behavior principles are presented using characters, music and interactive DVDs. These help children actively engage in the learning process while making it fun. The characters are able to provide the instructions and provide reinforcement. Children can practice skills repetitively while enjoying the process. The series also aims to promote independence. Once trained, the students can work with the videos without adult instruction. This enables the students to practice and generalize skills even during their free time.
