Saltwater Alchemy Is Now a Step Up for Students Provider in Florida!

For many Florida families, knowing what kind of support a child needs and being able to access that support are two very different things. Behavioral and educational services can be life-changing, particularly for neurodivergent students. We recognize that the cost of individualized ongoing care can place that support beyond the reach of some families. That is why we are incredibly excited to share that Saltwater Alchemy is now an approved Step Up for Students provider in the state of Florida. This creates a pathway for eligible families to access our services using their available scholarship funds, translating to zero out of pocket costs!

Maybe your child is incredibly bright but cannot seem to get an assignment started without an hour of tears, bargaining, frustration, and everyone ending the evening exhausted. Maybe mornings unravel before you ever make it out the door, transitions become battles, or a change in plans that seems small to everyone else can derail an entire day. Perhaps homework consumes the evening. Or maybe the child who can tell you everything there is to know about dinosaurs, sharks, or the solar system cannot remember to turn in the completed assignment sitting in their backpack, so they keep bringing home zeros despite knowing the material. Maybe you watch your child stare at a blank page because they have no idea where to begin, forget the instructions they understood perfectly five minutes ago, or insist they “don’t care” about school when you know how deeply they actually do care.

Maybe the child who once loved school now begs to stay home, retreats from activities and friendships they used to enjoy, or texts you from the bathroom asking to be picked up because the thought of walking into math class has triggered another panic attack. Maybe your phone lights up with the school's number so often that your stomach drops before you even answer it. There have been referrals, detentions, suspensions, missing assignments, meetings, behavior charts, or conversations about your child's “choices,” yet you cannot shake the feeling that everyone is responding to what your child is doing without becoming curious enough about why they are doing it. You know there is something underneath what everyone else can see, but you have struggled to find someone willing to take the time to understand it.

And maybe, beneath all of that, you are simply tired of watching a child you know is capable, funny, curious, complicated, and extraordinary begin to believe that they are the problem.

Supporting a child also means supporting the family surrounding them. Caregiver burnout is very real, and the education system is a complex ecosystem to navigate. IEPs, 504 Plans, psychoeducational evaluations, eligibility determinations, accommodations, standardized testing, behavioral data, progress monitoring, FBAs, BIPs, goals and service recommendations can quickly become overwhelming. We understand that behind every page of data is a real child and the systems built to protect that child often fall victim to overburdened, understaffed, and underfunded academic systems.

Saltwater Alchemy can help caregivers understand behavioral and educational assessments, make sense of that data and those recommendations, prepare for school meetings, develop meaningful questions, understand behavioral goals and interventions, and identify whether proposed supports address the barriers a child is actually experiencing. Imagine having your own personal advocate working to empower and support your child, instead of merely managing your child.

A child or teenager is more than the behavior documented on a school form, the percentile on an evaluation, the diagnosis in a medical record, or the worst moment of a difficult day. Understanding that individual requires us to look beneath the surface at the environment, learning history, skills, sensory experiences, relationships, expectations, strengths, and needs shaping what we see. Depending upon a person's individual needs, behavioral support may address executive functioning, organization, time management, emotional regulation, communication, self-advocacy, coping skills, problem-solving, social skills, daily living skills, independence, flexibility, transitions, study habits, task initiation, behavior reduction, and other barriers affecting success at school and at home.

We understand the most important skills in a child's life may never appear on a report card but do impact that report card. They are the skills involved in starting something difficult without becoming completely overwhelmed, remembering what needs to come home from school, organizing a week of assignments, asking a teacher for clarification, tolerating a change in plans, recognizing when frustration is building, communicating “I need help” before reaching a breaking point, still solving a problem when the first solution fails, and gradually learning how to navigate life with greater independence. Our goal is to apply ABA in such a way as to create lasting, socially significant and meaningful change that supports success both in and outside of the classroom on a deeply individual level.

Looking for a Step Up for Students Provider in Florida?

Saltwater Alchemy is currently accepting eligible families seeking behavioral and educational services through Step Up for Students in Florida. Whether your child is autistic or otherwise neurodivergent, struggling with executive functioning or emotional regulation, experiencing anxiety and avoidance, falling behind despite clearly having the ability to succeed, or caught in a cycle of challenging behavior that no one seems to understand, you do not have to arrive already knowing exactly what kind of help to ask for. Our services may include ABA therapy and behavioral support, Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)-informed interventions, executive functioning and emotional regulation skill development, behavior reduction and caregiver coaching, Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs), Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs), educational consultation and school support, and comprehensive assessments, including the VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R, AFLS, PEAK, EFL, ESDM, Vineland-3, and Socially Savvy, when clinically appropriate.

Maybe you have spent months trying to find the right words for what you are seeing, have a folder full of evaluations you barely understand, an IEP that does not seem to describe the child you know, a phone filled with messages from the school, or a child who is beginning to believe that struggling means they are failing. We understand that often, a family does not need another professional telling them what is wrong with their child; they need someone willing to look beneath the surface, understand what has been missed, and help them find a successful way forward!