Adaptive Skills Training at home, across Los Angeles
A specialist comes to your home and teaches everyday skills like getting dressed, cooking, money, and getting around, one step at a time. Your Regional Center pays for it, so your family pays $0.
What is adaptive skills training?
Adaptive skills training is the Regional Center's name for one-on-one teaching of everyday living skills. We teach each skill in your home or out in your community, wherever it gets used.
Taught where the skill happens
Laundry gets taught at your washer, and shopping at your store. A skill learned at a table in an office tends to stay at that table.
Built on what your child loves
Planes, video games, whatever it is. We find what your child already loves and build the skill inside it, because that is when a lesson sticks.
A plan you can read
Every plan names the skills and how we measure progress. You get it in writing, along with progress reports other providers accept.
What skills does adaptive skills training teach?
Adaptive skills training teaches the skills most people pick up by watching. Some people need them taught on purpose, one step at a time. Most plans pull from these eight areas.
Self-care
Getting dressed, bathing, brushing teeth, hair, using the toilet, eating, and getting ready on time.
Meals and cooking
Making a snack, following a simple recipe, using the microwave and stove safely, and cleaning up after.
Home skills
Laundry, dishes, making the bed, and keeping a room in order without being asked.
Money
Counting money, paying at a register, checking the change, using a debit card, and sticking to a budget.
Getting around
Crossing streets, riding the bus, reading a map on a phone, and getting to work or a day program.
Safety
Stove and water safety, strangers, what to do in an emergency, and staying home alone.
Talking with people
Asking for help, ordering food, making a phone call, joining a conversation, and hearing a no.
Routines and time
Following a schedule, bedtime and sleep routines, using alarms, and starting a task without a reminder.
The same service at every age
The skills change as your child gets older. The service and the $0 stay the same.
| Age | Where families often start |
|---|---|
| Young kids | Getting dressed, brushing teeth, washing hands, asking for help |
| Older kids and teens | Making a simple meal, paying at a store, using a phone, crossing streets |
| Adults | Cooking, laundry, budgeting, riding the bus to work, staying home alone |
What happens in an adaptive skills training session?
A specialist comes to your home when the skill happens and works beside your child on one piece of it. If the skill is the morning routine, the session is in the morning. If the skill is the bus, the session is at the bus stop.
- Start with one skill. We pick the one that costs your family the most time each week.
- Cut it into steps. Each one small enough that your child wins most of them in the first week.
- Teach it where it's used. Your own kitchen, and the store you actually shop at.
- Fade the help. A little less each week, until your child does the step and the specialist only watches. Then the specialist steps out.
- Hand it to you. For kids under 18, a parent or caregiver learns the same steps, so the skill keeps going between sessions.
Expect the first two weeks to look harder. Someone who has been helped through a step for years pushes back the first time the help thins. We plan for that week.
Who qualifies for adaptive skills training?
Adaptive skills training is for Regional Center clients. To work with us, three things need to be true.
- Your child is a client of North Los Angeles County, Westside, or Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center.
- Your child has a developmental disability, like autism, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, or epilepsy.
- Your child is 3 or older. There is no upper age limit.
We work most often with autism and intellectual disability. We also work with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Prader-Willi syndrome, and spina bifida.
Adults qualify the same way, and many of the people we work with are adults. If you are an adult reading this for yourself, all of it applies to you.
How much does adaptive skills training cost?
Nothing. Your Regional Center pays for adaptive skills training, so your family pays $0. There is no copay, no deductible, and no bill.
How do you get adaptive skills training?
If your child already has a service coordinator, it takes one short email. Send the one below. We're copied on it, so we see it right away.
Hi [their first name],
I'd like to add Levi Life Skills for adaptive skills training to [your child's full name]'s service plan.
Thank you.
Don't have your service coordinator's email? Search your inbox for @nlacrc.org, @westsiderc.org, or @elarc.org, depending on your Regional Center. Any email from them will have it.
What happens next
- Your service coordinator adds it to your child's plan. Since we're copied, we can help if anything is needed.
- We visit your home and write the plan. It names the skills and how we will measure progress.
- You meet your specialist. Matched to the skill, and to language, culture, or gender if those matter to your family.
- Sessions start. There is no waitlist.
Rather we handle it? Fill out the 2-minute form and we will take it from there. Our guide to getting adaptive skills training from your Regional Center has more detail.
How do you choose an adaptive skills training provider?
Any provider should be able to answer these questions in a sentence. Here are our answers.
| Ask any provider | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Does every specialist have a master's degree? | Yes, every one. They average 9.3 years of experience. |
| Will the same specialist come every time? | Yes. We don't rotate specialists. |
| Can sessions happen in our language? | Yes. Spanish, Armenian, Russian, Mandarin, and more. |
| How soon can we start? | There is no waitlist. |
| Can sessions fit around work? | Yes. Weekdays, evenings, and weekends. |
| Will we see a written plan? | Yes, plus progress reports other providers accept. |
| What if the match isn't working? | We find you a better one. |
For more questions worth asking before you sign, see our 4 questions to ask a provider.
Areas we serve
We come to you anywhere in the North Los Angeles County and Westside Regional Center areas, and we work with Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center families too. Our office is in North Hollywood.
San Fernando Valley
Arleta, Calabasas, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Encino, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, North Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, Pacoima, Panorama City, Porter Ranch, Reseda, San Fernando, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Tarzana, Toluca Lake, Tujunga, Van Nuys, West Hills, Winnetka, Woodland Hills, plus Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Topanga, and Westlake Village
Westside
Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Culver City, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, Malibu, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, Santa Monica, Venice, Westchester, West Los Angeles
Santa Clarita Valley
Santa Clarita (Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, Valencia), Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, Agua Dulce, Val Verde
Antelope Valley
Lancaster, Palmdale, Acton, Lake Hughes, Lake Los Angeles, Leona Valley, Littlerock, Llano, Pearblossom, Quartz Hill, Valyermo
What families say
After working with your team he became better in school, he became much better at telling us what he needs, and talking with people at school. I'm happy we found your team.
Vera really went above and beyond her work to truly help my daughter.
Questions families ask about adaptive skills training
Is adaptive skills training the same as ABA?
No. ABA works on behavior, and health insurance usually pays for it. Adaptive skills training teaches daily living skills, and your Regional Center pays for it. Many families have both.
Can adults get adaptive skills training?
Yes. There is no upper age limit. Adults often have the most ground to cover: cooking, money, buses, and running a day with nobody standing over it.
Do you do adaptive skills assessments?
Yes. Every program starts with an assessment at home, and it becomes your child's written plan.
How many hours of adaptive skills training will my child get?
Your Regional Center decides, based on the assessment. The hours are written into your child's plan.
Do parents have to take part in sessions?
For kids under 18, yes. We teach you the same steps we teach your child, so the skill keeps going between sessions.
Does insurance pay for adaptive skills training?
Your Regional Center pays for it. We never bill your family or your insurance.
Do we have to wait for our annual IPP meeting?
No. You can ask your service coordinator any time of year, and the email above is all it takes to start.
What if the Regional Center says no?
Ask for the answer in writing. You have 60 days to appeal, and Disability Rights California helps families do it for free.
Can sessions happen outside our home?
Yes. Many skills live out in the community, so sessions can happen at a store, a bus stop, a bank, or a restaurant.
Can we switch to Levi Life Skills from another provider?
Yes. Send your service coordinator the same email above, and we'll take it from there.
Is adaptive skills training just babysitting?
Fair question. Ask any provider for the written plan, the named skills, and last month's notes on what changed. If nobody can show you those, what you have is closer to respite, which is a different service.
We are not Regional Center clients yet. Where do we start?
Eligibility comes first. Our eligibility page walks you through the first call and what happens next.
Ready to get started?
The form takes two minutes and costs nothing. We check eligibility with you and handle the paperwork with your Regional Center.
See If You Qualify