School Based
Holding Hands is a Non-Public Certified Agency (NPA) with the State of California and the California Department of Education. Holding Hands Inc. provides behavior intervention services to various school districts through two types of written plans—an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 Plan, which can be developed and implemented by local school agencies regarding students with identified needs/disabilities. Both are federally mandated but fall under two separate laws. They each provide for the student to receive a free appropriate education within the least restrictive environment. In addition to serving students in public school settings, Holding Hands provides behavior intervention in private schools and NPSs (Non Public Schools) from ages 2 through 22.
Our behavior interventionists are trained in evidence-based applied behavior analysis principles and provide behavioral support for students requiring 1:1 care. The behavioral team analyzes environmental factors that may be inhibiting the student’s ability to access their curriculum and works with the student’s support team to most productively achieve his/her goals. Our behavior interventionists receive ongoing training and supervision throughout the treatment period by a BCBA or a Master/Doctorate level ABA Supervisor. Our clinical supervisors also provide functional behavioral assessments (FBAs). The FBA is an attempt to look beyond the obvious interpretation of behavior as “bad” to determine what function it may be serving for a student. Quite often, understanding why one behaves the way they do is the first step to developing strategies to prevent the behavior and supporting the student to reach his/her full potential.
Our ultimate goal is to enable the student to achieve the greatest possible academic, social, and emotional success in his/her school environment. Effective ABA intervention is not a “one size fits all” approach and should never be viewed as a “canned” set of programs or drills. On the contrary, our multi-disciplinary team customizes the intervention to each learner’s skills, needs, interests, developmental profile, preferences, and setting; this is what makes Holding Hands unique.
For list of our funding sources (click here)