The learning style profile, or LSP, approach offers a developmental path for getting our kids ready for school by building the foundations for successful interaction, participation, and learning with other children in a structured school environment. Most important, the LSP teaches our kids how to do the thinking for themselves. As we get them ready for kindergarten, independence is priority No. 1.

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World renowned autism interventionist Dr. Patrick Rydell developed the LSP through more than 40 years of in-the-trenches work with children on the autism spectrum. He discovered that as different as children are from one another (all kids have different challenges and strengths), kids with autism can also be remarkably similar, particularly when it comes to learning style. Dr. Rydell made note of the frequent, consistent, and persistent patterns described by teachers and parents, as well as his own observations in practice, and used them as the basis of his intervention at Rocky Mountain Autism Center in Lonetree, Colo., structuring his therapies around this new way of thinking. His goal was simple: To give children with ASD the same learning style advantages, or tools, as their neurotypical peers so they could succeed and reach their potential in the areas of socialization, communication, and academics.

 

Think of these foundational skills as tools in a toolbox that most kids pull out and use effortlessly without being taught or told how or when to use them. Neurotypical kids know how to read the room, what to do next, how to participate, how to engage others. The LSP gives parents and therapists a roadmap for teaching these vital skills to their children with autism. As adult coaches, we can teach children with ASD to look up, look around, and to work through the 10 most common Learning Style Challenges that often come hand in hand with an autism diagnosis. Those challenges are:

• Becoming a people-oriented learner (rather than an object-oriented learner)

• Learning through modeling, demonstration, and rehearsal

• Attaining social cues from multiple partners

• Increasing flexibility with people, objects, and activities

• Learning shared control

• Improving interaction style

• Learning symbolic Vs. verbal communication

• Advancing executive functioning

• Practicing distance learning

• Mastering transitions.

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At The Bridge Academy Daycare Center, we will be working to help your child overcome these common challenges and better equip them to work independently in a general education classroom while also familiarizing them with the structure and flow of full-time school. We want all of our children to be on an even playing field when entering kindergarten. The LSP helps students with autism gain the critical skills they need to succeed! For more information, please call us at 720-441-8041 or Apply Today!

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