Anova Behavioral Services

Anova’s Behavior Analysis Services Division provides behavior and educational consultation in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout Northern California. Anova is certified by the California Department of Education / Special Education Division as a non-public agency providing behavior consultation services in public schools. Additionally, Anova is a vendor for the State Department of Social Services and provides services through our partnership with the California Regional Center system. Anova’s Behavior Analysis Services Division facilitates lasting and meaningful behavior change through evaluation, collaboration, and intervention.

Anova’s Behavior Analysis Services are provided in a variety of settings including public and non-public schools, family homes, adult programs and residential settings. Anova’s behavioral and educational support is delivered to a diverse group of individuals such as those on the autism spectrum and the developmentally disabled, persons with attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities, and those who are at risk of losing an educational or residential placement due to their behavior. Additionally, we provide comprehensive behavioral and educational services to public school students receiving a variety of full-inclusion supports.

Anova is proud to employ some of California’s most dedicated and experienced experts in advanced behavioral approaches as our agency’s Behavior Analysts. Each of our Behavior Analysts is experienced in providing behavioral services for children, adolescents, and adults with emotional, learning and behavioral challenges. Credentials among our Behavior Analysts include professional licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy and State Board Certification in Behavior Analysis. Each of our services is performed in compliance with current laws and regulations and provided within the strictest standards for behavior analysis as described in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

When requested, Anova can provide highly-skilled para-professional assistants with specialized training in working with challenging behavior, offering full-inclusion academic assistance, and providing health-related support. All Para-professional assistants are supervised closely by a Behavior Analyst and receive on-site training as well as regular in-service presentations on subjects directly related to behavioral and educational services for individuals with behavioral chalenges and developmental concerns.

Specific services include:

• Functional Analysis Assessments & Positive Behavior Intervention Plans
• Para-professional support staff / 1:1 Behavior Assistants for classrooms
• Full Inclusion consultation and Para-professional support services
• Early intensive developmental skills training for young children on the Autism spectrum
• Student-specific & classroom-wide behavior consultation
• Social skills, independent living skills, and similar formal evaluations
• Parent, family and student counseling and training
• Short term transitional support

Behavior Consultation and Full-Inclusion Services to Public Schools

Anova is founded on the belief that every child can learn, including the skills that are required for successful behavior in the classroom. Frequently, educators are faced with problem behaviors that threaten a child's ability to receive an appropriate education in the least restrictive placement possible. Our Behavior Analysts serve as an important resource in meeting the unique needs of a particular child, or classroom system, with behavioral consultation and other support services. We strive to balance the needs of the identified student with the overall integrity of the classroom, assuring that the classroom’s learning environment is accessible to everyone.

We are certified to provide Behavior Intervention Development, Behavior Intervention Implementation provided by skilled paraprofessional assistants, parent counseling and training, and student counseling and guidance. Anova serves students in all special education placements including full-inclusion settings, special day and RSP classes, transitional and vocational programs, etc., those who are served under 504 agreements, and regular education students who may be at risk of losing an educational placement due to problem behavior.

Comprehensive Functional Analysis Assessments and Positive Behavior Intervention Plans are the foundation upon which our consultation services are based. Upon completion of the plan, Anova can provide consultation to school programs by offering a combination of collaboration, staff training and on-site behavioral support. When temporary paraprofessional assistant services are requested, our trained and highly skilled assistants can support classroom staff in implementing the interventions recommended. As the student demonstrates success and the teaching staff become fluent in the specific behavioral techniques a fading plan can be developed to systematically reduce the classroom’s need for continued intensive support.

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Home-To-School Early Intervention For Children With Autism

Intensive home –to- school training programs can produce comprehensive and durable improvements in important skill areas for most young children with autism. Anova is committed to optimal effectiveness in its early intervention services by providing the level of support necessary to assure success for both child and family. Development of the Service Plan is completed by a qualified Behavior Analyst in collaboration with the child’s parents and the child’s support team of other relevant professionals. Targeted skills may include self-help skills, communication needs, pre-academic skills, fine and gross motor competence, etc, including a functional analysis of targeted problem behaviors with detailed service recommendations.

Anova’s Behavior Analysts are uniquely qualified to provide the coordination of Applied Behavior Analysis and family support. This coordination of services is ideally suited to families with recently diagnosed children to assist the family in understanding, and effectively addressing, the special needs of their child.

A well-trained and caring Program Tutor provides direct instruction to the child. Program Tutors utilize teaching techniques that may include intensive direct instruction on specific skills and the opportunity for repetition of trials and incidental teaching strategies utilized while involved in play, self-care, community trips, or other routine activities. Program Tutors work under the supervision of a Behavior Analyst with extensive training in all aspects of program design. The Behavior Analyst provides the child’s parents with instruction on implementing their child’s skill training programs as the Program Tutor and Behavior Analyst model teaching strategies and behavior interventions for the parents. As parents become fluent in the training techniques a fading plan for the Program Tutor and Behavior Analyst will be implemented to reduce the family’s need for continued intensive support.

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Services in Family Homes and Community Settings

Anova’s community services component of our behavioral and educational consultation is primarily provided to the developmentally disabled in our partnership with the California Regional Center system. The term “developmentally disabled” commonly refers to those labeled as having mild to profound mental retardation. Among the broad spectrum of individuals designated as developmentally disabled include those with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and some along the Autism spectrum. In addition to mental retardation, persons with developmental disabilities may exhibit a wide range of additional concerns including limited speech or communication, physical mobility problems, a tendency to forget skills when infrequently used, and trouble generalizing skills from one situation to another. In order to be effective for the developmentally disabled population, training programs need to incorporate a variety of components to meet the considerable needs of these individuals. Educational services are likely to begin as early as the toddler years and continue into adulthood. The primary focus is upon increasing the child’s independence in skills that provide for the expression of choice, communication, and daily living-skill development.

Anova Behavior Analysts have provided consultation in family homes and residential care facilities to hundreds of parents and care providers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Complete Assessments with interventions for addressing problem behaviors are developed with consideration for the needs of the entire family in mind. Once the written intervention plan has been developed, the Behavior Analyst works with the family to translate that plan into an understandable course of action. The behavioral recommendations are explained in detail and modeled to assure that the parent or care provider has a full understanding, and can demonstrate, the newly acquired knowledge. When determined to be appropriate, consultation services are systematically faded with the family remaining as the natural support.

For further information, email or call William Henkel at (707) 527-7032.

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