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Santa Cruz (Special education school, Autism/DD)

The Bay School, a May Center for Child Development, is a nonpublic, nonprofit school dedicated to providing education and intervention services to individuals with autism and their families. It is one of May Institute's four special education schools in Massachusetts and California for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other special needs.

Founded in 1998, this year-round school serves students with autism between the ages of 2 and 21. Our highly-trained staff utilize the most effective methods of working with children with autism.

The Bay School is designed to implement the individualized family service plan/individualized education plan (IFSP/IEP) goals of students referred by school districts and Regional Centers to provide appropriate instruction and related services on an individually contracted basis.

Day Services

  • Individualized educational services, utilizing applied behavior analysis (ABA)
  • Full-day, 12-month program
  • 1:1 staff-student ratio
  • State-of-the-art teaching procedures such as direct instruction, discrete trial teaching, incidental teaching, and video modeling
  • Family support services including a strong emphasis on parent training
  • Speech, occupational, and physical therapies, on a consult basis 

Early Intervention Services

  • 1:1 intensive instruction
  • 12 hours per week for children ages birth to 5 years with autism/PDD
  • Intensive group and individualized parent training
  • Weekly home visits
  • Supervised by a BCBA, BCABA, or early childhood education teacher
  • Focus on development of language, social, and behavioral skills