A Communication, Behavior, and Life Skills Curriculum, Assessment, and Professional Practitioner’s Handbook
Essential for Living: A Journey to Life Skills
The mission of Essential for Living is to provide children and adults with moderate-to-severe disabilities, including but not limited to autism, a comprehensive life skills curriculum with social validity, along with evidence-based teaching and measurement strategies and procedures,
that result in the dignity and quality of life these children and adults deserve
Dr. Patrick McGreevy
Join the Speaker Initiative
Many non-verbal children are not provided with an alternative method of speaking and participate in instruction or behavior therapy 'solely as a listener'. Others are provided with an alternative method, such as picture exchange or an electronic tablet, that is not portable or requires multiple responses to make simple requests. These methods are often abandoned by the children, resulting in young adults with problem behavior 'when they want to make requests'. Essential for Living will help you select and confirm an alternative, method of speaking that meets the CAFE criteria -- Continuously Available, Frequently used, and Effortless -- and is much less likely to be abandoned later..