Developmental Enrichment
Our developmental enrichment program provides a happy medium between academics and therapy, serving children of all backgrounds and abilities between the ages of 16 months - 8 years, developmentally.
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Our sessions are 3.5 hours long each day. We offer an AM and PM schedule for 2, 3 or 5 days per week.
Full-day sessions coming in FALL 2024. Pre-register here.
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Once your registration is received, we will schedule a virtual meeting with you to learn all about your little one! This meeting is a crucial step that allows us to become familiar with your child’s interests, strengths and areas of support, your learning priorities for your child and anything else that would help us best prepare to welcome your little one!
Ready to register? Click here.
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Ready to book a tour? Click here!
Building the Indie Space
A Holistic, Representative and Inclusive Learning Environment… With the Comforts of Home.
A cozy home play room meets an inclusive, adaptable, sensory rich learning space! The Indie space is designed to allow children to learn and express themselves in comfort and safety. Our Central Phoenix location is currently designed to accommodate children between the ages of 16 months and 8 years, developmentally, with plenty of enrichment, sensory and motor movement opportunities.
Solid Foundations
Foundations for early learning are built in our mixed-age 16 month to 3 year group. Focusing on social-emotional development, acquiring daily living skills, exploring pre-academic concepts, and fostering independence, this child-led environment is the perfect place for your little one to begin their learning journey! Here, each learner is encouraged to explore, play, and grow at their own pace, with tailored support that meets them exactly where they are.
Spark Curiosity, Foster Independence.
Hands on exploration, practical life skills and opportunities for independence. Our 4+ mixed age group dives a bit deeper into academics, while maintaining a child-led, neurodiversity affirming + play based environment. Learners are supported by a certified teacher, who conducts weekly small group rotations in core areas such as mathematics, literacy, cognition, social emotional awareness + more.
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Indie's adapted curriculum is centered around whole-child development and practical life skills. Our educators conduct weekly small group sessions, supporting learners across varying ages and developmental stages in core areas of development, including literacy, mathematics, cognition and social emotional awareness.
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From daily living + hygiene tasks, to sequencing steps to making a sandwich and even shopping for groceries, our 4+ developmental group is immersed in hands on experiences that promote independence in practical life skills!
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Learning CAN and should be fun. Our team is trained to meet each child exactly where they are, and promote skill building according to their interests, along their timeline.
Our Philosophy
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The Whole Child
Our philosophy includes a “whole-child” approach, which reaches beyond academics to establish a safe, healthy and everlasting relationship with learning. We believe in teaching through the facilitation of opportunities for independence, creative expression, decision making, critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence.
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Our seven “core areas” of development include language/literacy, mathematics, cognition, social emotional, independent living skills, physical development and sensory regulation.
A Day At Indie
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The flow of the day:
Low demands, minimal transitions.
Unlike traditional educational environments, children aren’t held to a rigorous daily schedule of transitions. Learners have plenty of room to explore and engage at their own pace, according to their own interests. While structures like stories and circle time exist within the rooms, we do not mandate that all learners participate or engage according to neuronormative standards. Our staff are trained to meet each child exactly where they are, and facilitate learning within their natural exploration.
Are there centers or crafts during the day?
Learners are engaged in sensory-rich learning opportunities throughout their day, including crafts, sensory bins, songs and movement, games and more!
How about snack time?
While we offer snack to the group at designated times, we practice intuitive eating, meaning we will always acknowledge and honor your child’s request for snack/drink, no matter the time.
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Each developmental room has an assigned teacher/BCBA team that work collaboratively to support our learners growth and facilitate their skill development. Each learner is provided a comprehensive assessment during their enrollment period, from which a learning plan is created. These assessments guide things like recommendations for related services (Speech, NBT), academic goals and small group activities.
Additionally, each developmental room is equipped with support staff members, trained to meet each child where they are, promote skill development, foster peer relationships and provide support with communication, independent living skills and more!
What if my child receives speech or behavioral therapy? What does that look like?
Each room is supported by a teacher, SLP and BCBA. If your child benefits from dedicated support in any area from one of our providers, they will receive either push-in or pull-out time according to their learning goals.
Will my child’s learning goals be tracked in any way?
Each member of our multidisciplinary team will come together to create a learning plan for your child! Goals for each child’s learning plan are determined based on a series of observations and assessments of skills in seven core areas of development (the “whole child”). These goals are reviewed quarterly with parents/caregivers.
Safety
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There are a few factors that we have to consider when supporting behaviors and offering safer alternatives.
Perspective taking
What is happening in the environment that could be triggering big feelings/behaviors?
Are necessary supports available?
Does the learner have necessary supports for communication/self-advocacy?
Sensory factors
Are there sensory needs that aren’t being met? Are there factors that could lead to overstimulation?
Digging deeper
There’s typically more to an outward expression (i.e. hitting) than what presents at face value. It is our position to explore the root cause behind the behavior/expression and work collaboratively with the learner to identify relevant support, tools and skills to help them through big feelings.
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When designing a program with inclusion at the forefront, we wanted to be sure that food allergens weren’t a barrier to participation.
In our effort to ensure an allergen friendly environment, here’s our plan:
All snacks and drinks provided by Indie are certified brands, free from top food allergens such as milk, wheat (gluten), egg, peanuts, tree nuts, fish/shellfish, soy and sesame. Furthermore, snacks/drinks are free from artificial dyes and gelatin.
If a child in our program is anaphylactic to either of these allergens, food brought from staff member and peer homes will not be permitted inside of our developmental rooms (classrooms).
Considerations for top allergens are also prioritized when making sensory filler/activities.