Life Skills - ABA Connections

Our Services

Essentials for Living

For children, youth and adults seeking a more naturalistic and focused approach to the teaching and generalization of daily living skill, ABA Connections offers a comprehensive life skills program. Using the Essentials for Living curriculum, created by Patrick McGreevy, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Troy Fry, BCBA. and Colleen Cornwall, Ed.D., BCBA-D, the Essentials for Living Program is designed to identify, assess, and prioritize skills and behaviours that have are essential for effective daily living and an improved quality of life.

What are Essential Living Skills?

The Essentials for Living Curriculum has identified 8 essential “must have” skills that are deemed necessary for an individual to attain in order to live a happy, fulfilling, productive and high quality life. These 8 skills include:

Making Requests
Waiting
Accepting removals, transitions, sharing, and taking turns
Completing Consecutive Tasks
Accepting “No”
Following Directions Pertaining to Health and Safety
Completing Daily Living Skills
Tolerating Health and Safety Situations

Once acquired, these eight skills allow an individual to access their needs independently, and as a result, reduces the likelihood of interfering behaviours.

Who Could Benefit from the Essentials for Living Program?
The Essentials for Living Program at ABA Connections is best suited for children, youth, and adults with moderate to severe disabilities who have a limited verbal repertoires, minimal daily living skills, and interfering behaviour. To help determine if the Essentials for Living Program is the right fit, take out intake questionnaire or contact our Director of Client services either through e-mail or phone (613-224-8476).

The Essentials for Living Program at ABA Connections

At ABA Connections we have developed a program that utilizes the Essentials for Living Curriculum to determine the current performance levels of a client and create appropriate goals and objectives using the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis and Verbal Behaviour. Goals are achieved through the use of empirically-validated procedures utilizes in both the natural environment as well as through direct instruction. All clients in our Essentials for Living Program work 1:1 or in small groups with trained therapists using behavioural supports that suit their needs.

Our programming doesn’t end there!

As goals are often targeting the essential “must have” skills, many of our individualized programs within the Essentials for Living Program can be implemented in the home, school or out in the community. Parents, teachers, and other individuals in a clients life are encouraged to participate alongside the program. ABA Connections Clinical Team are available to support the generalization of skills through consultations, training, and a wide library of resources.

To learn more about our Essentials for Living Program check out our #LifeSkillsatABAConnections photo album or reach out to our Director of Client Services.