CPEE LA ESCUELITA DE ILUSIONES

La Escuelita de Ilusiones is a special education school focused on autism care. It is located in the Centro Ciudadano de San Francisco de Paula, in Los Baldíos, in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, and operates with the characteristics of a transition school, providing intensive and individualized teaching. Its project is linked to research lines on autism spectrum disorders developed at the University of La Laguna and other national and international research centers.

The center applies the methodology of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), with scientific backing, and the Verbal Behavior method for teaching functional language, aiming to improve students' language, communication, imagination, and social skills. The work with each student is intensive, around five hours daily, and is based on a prior skills assessment conducted at the University of La Laguna through the GUIATE Group (Research Group on Autism and Effective Treatments). From that evaluation, an individual program is developed, supervised weekly by the project management and, semi-annually, by external advisory professionals.

The project is directed by Arquímedes Fernández-Valdés, a professor at the Faculty of Psychology, and the center has external advisor Gladys Williams, a pioneer of the Verbal Behavior method. Among the results of the work developed, some students have transitioned to regular schools.