Most parents are anxious to begin helping their child — now.
Here's the Acorn Health promise: For our early intervention program, you will have an opportunity to meet with one of our clinical team members for a free consultation within 10 days from calling admissions.
It's the first big step to starting treatment. Start now.(989) 334-5167
Welcome
A network of providers, one shared vision
Acorn Health is setting the standard of ABA therapy with best practices, pioneering next practices, and a Clinical Advisory Board of leaders in the field.
Bailey Chapman ,M.A., BCBA, LBA Clinical Director
From our
Saginaw
Clinical Director
Navigating the different therapy options for a child with autism can be daunting and overwhelming. There are so many different options for therapy approaches and schools to choose from. As a child’s caregiver, you are the most important person on their team. You are responsible for making sure all their therapists and teachers work together to achieve the same goal: To teach your child to be the most independent and happy person they can be.
In the Saginaw center, being a part of your child’s team Is very Important to us. By working with the other professionals on your child’s team, we can create more effective treatment plans. We invite your child’s teachers and therapists to join us at the center to help make our therapy more inclusive of their goals.
Additionally, this allows us to achieve our goals quicker. Including the caregiver every step of the way is essential for making lifelong improvements with our therapy. Communication and collaboration allow us to create the best possible environment for our teams to work together.
Acorn Health has been named a Behavioral Center of Excellence, a distinction which reflects our commitment to setting new standards in ABA treatment.
Everyone repeats behavior that produces a valued reward
This very simple, human inclination is central to ABA therapy. Your child’s Acorn Board-Certified therapist identifies a goal behavior for your child. When your child displays the behavior we want to see, he or she receives something personally meaningful (and you’ll help us identify ideas.
We’ll also learn what precedes your child’s challenging behaviors
We call them “antecedents.” They’re things that happen immediately before the behavior we’re trying to change. An antecedent can be a request, like “clean up your room”; a feeling or reaction; a specific object; bright lights or a noisy crowd. ABA therapy looks for these antecedents and finds alternatives that influence your child’s reaction.
Our Board Certified Behavior Analysts conducts skills assessments to understand your child’s specific needs: his or her language development, practical life skills, ability to generalize learning, and more. We also conduct functional behavior assessments and analyses for children with challenging behaviors.
Custom Therapy Plan
With all this data, we draft a custom therapy plan and share our clinical recommendations with parents and caregivers. Therapy plans are developed only after we understand your family’s goals and preferences. We also openly collaborate with your child’s school and other therapists (for example, speech language pathologists or occupational therapists). Consistency and a team approach lead to optimal outcomes.
Skill Building
Acorn Health focuses first on the child’s activities of daily living. We begin with improving communication and social skills. Then, we address activities like mealtime challenges, and intensive toilet training. Where appropriate, we also develop vocational skills.
Family education and training is an integral part of each therapy plan. Consistency helps children acquire skills, then maintain and generalize the learning for new situations.
Behavior Reduction
Children with challenging behaviors benefit from function-based behavior reduction plans. These plans often include eliminating triggers and providing opportunities for the child to demonstrate the replacement behavior.
We have protocols for managing these behaviors and functional alternatives (e.g., asking for a break rather than engaging in problem behavior to achieve that break). Here, too, collaboration matters. Consistency at home, school, and other environments creates lasting progress.
ABA therapy is typically covered by insurance
Insurance requires a doctor’s referral and a formal diagnosis of autism. We accept most health insurance plans for assessment and ongoing treatment.
Please contact us with any insurance related questions at (989) 334-5167
Local resources -
Saginaw
Grand Valley State University – START Project
START Project Mission: To work with schools, community partners, and families to support students with ASD to become active, engaged members of their schools and local communities, and successfully move into adulthood as independent individuals with many choices and opportunities.
Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) provides the connections, expertise and innovative solutions to drive continued business growth, build vibrant communities, create affordable housing, generate tourism and attract and retain key talent to fill Michigan’s vast pipeline of opportunities.
It is our goal to be a leader and partner in the support of individuals with autism, their families/caregivers and professionals serving individuals with autism spectrum disorder to lead a quality and fulfilling life.
Michigan Alliance for Families is a statewide resource to connect families of children with disabilities to resources to help improve their children’s education. We help facilitate parent involvement as a means of improving educational services and outcomes for students with disabilities.
We are leading collaborative efforts across the state that will improve the quality of life for individuals with autism through education, access to comprehensive services, community awareness, inclusion efforts, and coordinated advocacy
The Arc is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The organization encompass all ages and all spectrums from autism, Down syndrome, Fragile X and various other developmental disabilities. With more than 140,000 members and approximately 700 state and local chapters nationwide, The Arc is on the front lines to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families have the support they need to be members of the community.
The National Standards Project – Phase 1 and Phase 2 – answers one of the most pressing public health questions of our time — how do we effectively treat individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
We are an international accrediting body created to meet accreditation needs specific to the delivery of behavior analysis. We develop and measure voluntary consensus standards for autism and Applied Behavior Analysis service providers.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board, Inc.® (BACB®) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation established in 1998 to meet professional credentialing needs identified by behavior analysts, governments, and consumers of behavior analysis services.
Since 1974, the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) has been the primary membership organization for those interested in the philosophy, science, application, and teaching of behavior analysis. ABAI provides many services to its members and the field