Discovering Kids seeks to become a community leader in supporting the highest quality early intervention and preschool experience for children with developmental disabilities and neuro-typical children.
For children with an identified developmental disability, our comprehensive program provides individualized Specially Designed Instruction and consultation services for children with developmental disabilities, their families, and other professionals in a variety of settings.
The program provides year-round preschool education and early intervention / Specially Designed Instruction for typically developing children as well as those diagnosed with Autism or other developmental disabilities. Your child's day will consist of large group activities, small group activities, inside play, outside play, rest time, and individual work with his or her instructor.
Discovering Kids Preschool follows the Maine Department of Education Curriculum: Pre-K for ME. This research-based, whole child curriculum meets the requirements of Chapter 124: Public Preschool Program Standards and is developmentally appropriate for four-year old children.
Pre-K for ME supports preschool teachers in providing a rich, play-based, intentional curriculum aligned to Maine's Early Learning and Development Standards and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework — building social-emotional, executive function, language, literacy, math, and vocabulary skills.
The emphasis in this service delivery model is to build skills (skill acquisition). A constructional approach is used, in which foundation skills are learned first, then increasingly complex skills are presented and mastered over time.
Our instructional methods are based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) — the application of positive reinforcement, repetition, and prompting to facilitate development of language, play, self-care, and pre-academic skills, and to help reduce everyday social problems and serious behaviors.
Tested by research and experience for more than 50 years, ABA practices have been endorsed by the Surgeon General and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A behavior analytic approach ensures we employ techniques with an established track record of positive results, and that we regularly measure your child's progress to modify instruction as sensitively as possible.
Teaching methods include discrete trial instruction, natural environment teaching, incidental teaching, and activity schedules.
Our commitment to children and families is built on four central pillars:
Work closely with families to set and prioritize goals for instruction, and ensure consistency of instruction across educators and family members — including parent training in community supports, potty training, bedtime routines, and encouraging independence and self-help skills.
Close gaps between a child's current level of development and the levels of typically developing peers.
Help each child master attending, communication, social, play, self-care, and pre-academic skills needed to be as independent as possible when transitioning to school programs.
Manage challenging or undesirable behavior in a positive manner, by building skills to replace that behavior.
Teaching staff are knowledgeable about typical and atypical development, and about methods of instruction that reach all students. The focus is on each individual child — identifying strengths and areas for growth using family input, assessment data, and careful observation of the child at play.
Children are met where they are developmentally, and accommodations are provided to ensure success in a group setting, with opportunities to work and play together throughout the day.
