I'm based out of Wake County, near Lake Johnson Park. I typically hold sessions at client's homes or nearby libraries or parks.
I travel throughout most of Wake and Durham Counties, as well as parts of the surrounding counties. Feel free to reach out if you're unsure of whether I would be able to travel to your location, and include a nearby landmark (e.g. a school, park, library, intersection) so that I can check on Google Maps what the travel would be like.
I also provide virtual coaching and tutoring options. We can work together to figure out if a virtual session would be helpful if you're unsure.
This is highly dependent on your goals. The minimum session frequency I recommend for tutoring is once a week. This is often the optimal frequency for folks who are hoping to learn to execute instruction more effectively at home.
For a comprehensive literacy or mathematics teaching experience where I am the primary instructor, multiple sessions a week is recommended to maximize the effectiveness of instruction. The optimal number of sessions a week depends on many individual factors, and what the instructional focus of sessions will be.
The focus is always going to be based around the needs of the client.
We can shape goals together that are short and long term and strategize about how to reach those goals in ways that honor the experiences and perspectives of your loved one.
We can review test results provided from other practitioners (e.g. teachers, therapists, psychologists) and, incorporating these multiple perspectives, as well as your experiences of your loved one, identify strategies, accommodations, and supports that may be effective. Clients with complex profiles are often receiving services from many different specialists who aren't able to look at how disabilities interact and make a plan to balance access.
I can provide guidance with selecting and implementing assistive technology tools to help your loved one access educational experiences and the experiences of daily living. Accessible and augmentative communication (AAC) tools are often a critical part of this process, and an area that I am quite passionate about!
I can work with you to develop supports to use for routines at home, including digital and analog visual schedules, auditory schedules, social stories* to support understanding of new or difficult experiences, and visuals to support you and other folks supporting your loved one.
*The term "social stories" has come to be used quite broadly to describe free and paid products available across the web. A social story is actually a trademarked strategy that has very specific parameters. You can read more about the characteristics of actual social stories on Carol Gray's website. (Carol Gray originally developed social stories, so she's the authority on them!)
Literacy sessions include instruction and practice with phonological awareness (especially phonemic awareness) and phonics (including encoding and decoding). These are foundational literacy skills, and a majority of people need instruction in these areas to develop literacy skills. Phonics and phonemic awareness instruction is based on the scope and sequence of the UFLI Foundations curriculum and adapted for the needs and abilities of individual clients.
Literacy sessions may also include instruction and practice to develop vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension strategies, understanding of the purposes for which we read and write, and accurate letter formation using an appropriately adapted writing tool (pencil, letter stamps, alphabet flipbook, keyboard, AAC app, etc.).
Instruction in math sessions can focus on concepts from early numeracy through algebra. While I'm happy to collaborate on accommodations and supports that help people learn pre-calculus and other higher level mathematics, I would definitely need someone else to facilitate instruction! Math instruction is based on the scope and sequence of the Kendall Hunt Illustrative Mathematics curriculum and adapted for the needs and abilities of individual clients.
Communication and self-advocacy skills are incorporated as needed into all sessions.
If a client (whether they are a child or an adult) refuses to participate in an activity I have planned, I honor their choice about whether and how they will participate.
Respecting a person's right to autonomy, dignity, and self-direction means that they have the right to consent and withhold consent.
In practice, I find that most people respond really well to this approach. When they trust that I will respect their right to say no, they often become more willing to communicate openly with me. Through mutually respectful communication, we can figure out better ways to approach the activity if it is truly essential. For activities that aren't essential, then we may skip that activity all together.
I typically schedule sessions between 8am and 4pm, Monday through Friday. Please reach out with any special scheduling requests, and I'll do my best to accommodate your needs.
An hour session costs $125.
A half hour session costs $75.
I operate on a 50 minute hour and a 25 minute half hour. This allows time for transitions and answering brief questions.
For most clients, I recommend a session length of an hour. Half hour sessions are available at my discretion, based on the needs of the individual.
My own experiences as a neurodivergent person have increased the cognitive flexibility with which I approach clients. I'm open to exploring different possible reasons behind clients' actions. My first instinct is to explore what is making something difficult and address that barrier, rather than assuming that someone WON'T or CAN'T do something.
As a bottom up processor, I collect all the details available to build my conceptual understanding of a situation. My brain doesn't take shortcuts as often as a neurotypical brain, and this results in more effective, insightful services for you.
I understand intimately the different needs that clients might have around learning--including a variety of sensory needs, processing time, options to communicate their understanding in non-conventional ways, the high level of anxiety that demands can bring, and the importance of teaching and honoring regulation strategies and needs. This is especially useful when working with autistic clients, whose needs and actions are often misunderstood by clinicians.
Too Long, Didn't Read?
I absolutely do not practice ABA. I have no intention of doing so at any point in the future. I do work with clients with both current ABA and past ABA experiences. I do collaborate with BCBAs and RBTs to the extent possible to best support clients.
My Experiences with ABA
I have taught in school systems that advocated heavily for this approach, as well as working as an instructional assistant in a classroom whose teacher was a certified BCBA. I have been to trainings that are focused on conducting Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs), the level one Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training, using ABA to teach academic content, and using ABA to manage behaviors in the classroom. I have read about the experience of autistic adults who were in ABA as children, as well as reading opinion pieces of both proponents and opponents of ABA. I have worked with children who have had extensive ABA experiences, both before they came to my classroom and while working with tutoring clients.
My Thoughts on ABA
ABA is not an effective way to teach communication, academic skills, nor does it support development of healthy boundaries. It leads to prompt dependence, even with a great focus of ABA approach being weaning from prompt dependence. Children who have participated in ABA often answer questions without actually thinking about it, as if their goal is to stop the interaction, rather than participate actively in it. These same children often check with the adults working with them for hints that they are getting the answer "correct." ABA itself recognizes that there are issues with generalization, but professionals attribute these issues to autism, rather than recognizing that the issues are an inherent effect of the ABA approach itself.
ABA, as a framework, does not view autistic people as full people. The framework encourages professionals to vastly underestimate cognitive and communicative abilities. At the same time, they purport themselves as the only evidence-based approach for "treating" autism. This discounts a huge body of research demonstrating that there are many effective ways to teach autistic people.
It feels bad to implement many of the strategies in ABA. It feels bad to have ABA strategies used on me--I feel manipulated. It activates a strong desire to preserve my autonomy by refusing whatever demand is presented--even if it's something that aligns with my value system, that I would normally do.
Working with Clients in ABA
I also realize that ABA is often the most accessible service for families with autistic members. Financial support for ABA services is much more accessible than other options. It is often recommended by doctors who diagnose autism in children. Families who may not qualify for respite services or other care workers can get needed support through ABA services.
Many parents at this point are aware that there are potential pitfalls inherent in ABA, and they know that controversy around ABA exists. They take steps to minimize the potential harm for their loved one if they choose to participate in ABA services. I'm happy to provide education around potential harms of ABA, alternative strategies to teach needed skills, and a sounding board for when it might be time to figure something else out.
I can also provide tutoring to clients who are in or have been in ABA. It can take a bit longer for these clients to understand and begin participating in sessions because I focus heavily on consent, and this can be a big change, depending on the ABA team and practices currently in use.
Yes! You can find me by searching for Lucas Harris or Lucas on the NCSEAA provider portal or through the ClassWallet website.
Yes! I am an approved provider. You can find me by searching for Lucas Harris or Lucas Learning Lab on the NCSEAA provider portal or through the ClassWallet website.
Maybe.
I have worked with a wide variety of clients with a wide variety of disabilities, including:
Trisomy 13
Down syndrome
Autism
Cerebral Palsy (with a wide range of motor and cognitive impacts)
Unknown/unnamed genetic disorders
Seizure disorders
Vision impairments (including CVI)
Hearing impairments (including APD)
Typically the specific disability is not the most important aspect of working with a client, although a diagnosis can be a starting place for understanding a client's needs. Access and support needs are the most important information, and that's something that we can figure out together. Useful information includes:
Processing time
Effective regulation tools
Visual access
Auditory access
Sensory needs
Motor (fine and gross) abilities
Current methods of communication