The goal of Academic Instruction is to enable the student to develop essential reasoning skills and awareness of the world in which we live.

Autism spectrum disorder is a disability that often interferes with learning. While it is best to avoid making generalizations about students with a particular disability, it can be said that most students with ASD are concrete thinkers. Many students are rote learners, who use their visual and/or auditory processing to assimilate and retrieve information. It is important to teach skills across subject areas so that students can apply them flexibly. Students with ASD learn best when concepts are presented in appealing multi-sensory formats with high visual, auditory and tactile appeal. Academic Instruction emphasizes hands-on activities, visual as well as auditory presentation of information, and frequent repetition. Giant Steps provides instruction in K-12 Communication Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art and Health/Physical Education.

Academic Instruction is conducted individually or in small groups. This approach helps the student maintain attention and motivation and enables teachers to tailor instruction to the student's own learning strengths. Communication Arts and Math are taught as discrete skills. These skills are put into practice as the student engages with Multidisciplinary Learning Units. These units provide in-depth study of a major or minor content strand from the Science or Social Studies curriculum. Students use their math and communication arts skills to find information, answer questions and solve problems in Social Studies or Science topics. These units also serve to increase the student's fund of knowledge about themselves, their families, community, nation, and the constructed and natural world.

Academic Instruction makes use of grade-level textbooks, periodicals, reference books, computer software and child-safe informational websites, arts and crafts materials, cooking ingredients and kitchen equipment, materials from nature and basic laboratory equipment.

Occupational therapy helps people do the ordinary things they need to do on a daily basis. For most of us, this means getting up in the morning, taking care of grooming, eating and other personal and household tasks throughout the day. These basic tasks are called Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Responsibility for ADL begins in childhood.

In addition, most of us need to participate in some kind of school or work.. Young children's work is the act of play. Of course, as children get older, they participate in both school and work activities. For children with disabilities in which the brain does not communicate with their body in the usual ways, even the most basic use of toys and activities can be very difficult. Occupational therapists use careful observation to break down skills needed for play / work activities into manageable first steps. For example, a child must first be able to reach and pinch before he / she can successfully play with a pull toy.

The Giant Steps occupational therapy environment is rich in things to touch, taste, smell, see and hear. Through special movement - play activities and toys are utilized for the required "just right" challenge for each child to gain needed skills for play and activities of daily living. The growth of confidence and the necessary skills for community living are acquired, one-by-one, in this challenging and safe surroundings.

Giant Steps of St. Louis has a long history of training, university student occupational therapists through in-service and internships. Parent and staff trainings are also provided to jointly and comprehensively address the goals of each child.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder have difficulty using words to express their wants, needs, thoughts and feelings with others.

Frequently, young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) use their behaviors, instead of words, to express themselves. For example, one child may scream and throw himself / herself on the floor to indicate that he / she does like a particular activity. Another child may come up to a stranger and give them a hug, to indicate they notice the person and would like to say "hello". In other words, children with ASD, the same as all children, have a lot to say - they just don't know how.

Speech and Language Therapy at Giant Steps of St. Louis focuses on teaching the speech, language and communication skills needed to develop relationships with others, to learn and to be successful in society today. Speech and Language Therapy at Giant Steps of St. Louis uses many approaches to teaching children the social skills they need. This includes doing therapy which taps into all senses, specifically visual, auditory, movement and touch.

Speech Therapy at Giant Steps gives children the opportunity to participate in routine exercises that emphasize self-expression. We teach the children many different ways to express themselves. Children learn to use gestures, sign language, pointing to pictures, and hopefully formulating accurate words, phrases and sentences.

The Music Therapy program at Giant Steps of St. Louis continues to serve many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Through the use of musical activity, students make significant gains in many areas. Through musical activity a child learns to be an active member of his / her classroom in the neighborhood school and through the child's entire environment. One of the primary goals of the Giant Steps of St. Louis Therapy program is to develop the skills necessary to communicate with classmates and other peers, teachers and family. Simple songs and melodies assist in teaching a child how to respond and communicate his or her wants and needs. Music is often the first avenue with which a child learns to say hello and greet others around him. The strong beat of the music helps a child learn just when to "jump" into song with his or her reply. Sometimes that reply is with words and at other times the reply is through a musical conversation using instruments. The beat of music teaches a child how to move their body with a much greater ease and purpose. Through music and drum play, a child learns to handle a variety of drums, mallets and drumsticks. This supports the skills used in printing and handwriting. Children learn to move their whole body to the music. Through music and movement, a child moves with greater coordination when learning how to play a favorite sport or participating in gym class.

One of the highlights of the Giant Steps Music Therapy program is the creation of the Giant Steps Choristers. Through carefully planned chorus classes, directed by the music therapist, students learn to follow a lead and join in singing lively children's music as a choir. Each child has many opportunities to perform as a soloist with an instrument and as a singer. The children feel wonderful about their performances and demonstrate strengths in many areas not seen in other learning environments. These children are learning valuable skills that can be carried over into the classroom in their neighborhood schools. Through participation in these types of activities, students continue to benefit from the extra practice with the speech and language skills required for choral work.

Young children learn to move their bodies, change and manipulate things, according to the demands of their environment, through play. At Giant Steps of St. Louis, large and small movements are refined in a stepwise manner according to each child's abilities. Needed skills are broken down and practiced during individual sessions of play. Group sessions allow each child to teach and to learn from other children and thus learn to generalize skills across all environments. An older child is expected to play with other children - this requires social skills. Social Skills include sharing, taking turns, waiting in line, modeling, helping others, basic communication and other group cooperation skills. Children who can play with others will be able to socialize in school environments. Movement equipment and toys are the tools for a child's daily and active life. At Giant Steps of St. Louis, occupational therapists break down each of the skills needed for age appropriate activities into group and individual sessions. Creative materials and activities designed by the Giant Steps' therapists help motivate our students to participate in and carry out activities at home, school and in the community.

Giant Steps' Art program is organized according to established Art Therapy principles. Working on an art project allows the students to show what they know and express what they want to express, whether verbally, by gesture, or communication system. The Art room is a small, quiet, orderly space. Sessions are conducted one-on-one with selected materials ready at hand. Projects use limited materials and are designed with high visual and tactile appeal. Initial directions are highly structured. In later stages of the project there is room for creativity, as the student will be expected to make choices or decisions about such elements as color, pattern, size or texture. The Art teacher explains or demonstrates the project and helps the student begin. Once started, the teacher offers prompts or hand-over-hand assistance if needed, but the student works as independently as possible.

All students participate in Physical Education. The program offers both indoor and outdoor sports, with a focus on building confidence and specific sports skills, as well as learning basic games and rules. Teams participate in Special Olympics.