Welcome to Seahorse Institute
You love your child more than anyone else. At Seahorse Institute, we can help unlock their learning potential.
Welcome to a place where children, teens, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Developmental Delays are immersed in a nurturing, individualized, world of opportunity. Seahorse Institute is a Bahamian non-profit organization founded by Dr. Michelle Major, an internationally acclaimed expert in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We provide intensive multidisciplinary interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, language disorders, and related behavioral challenges.
In The Bahamas, we are the only collaboration of parents, professionals, and community members in providing interventional care based on solid scientific research and proven data to unlock the potential of our children. We offer year-round programs with comprehensive curricula specializing in the acquisition of language, communication skills, pre-academic and academic independent functioning, and socialization skill areas.
Children in our programs benefit from the most comprehensive range of services in The Bahamas:
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- Modern, spacious, high-tech facility
- Low Instructor to Child ratio
- Individualized approach
- Data-driven results
- Evidence- and research-based intervention
- Highly trained and specialized staff
- Proven track record
- Nurturing environment
- Mainstream classroom objective
- Vocational guidance
- Services that can follow a child from preschool through adulthood
What are data-driven results?
We record data on each child every day (and when needed, every second). Each behavior and educational goal that the child demonstrates or reaches is documented and plotted to show improvement. For example, on the first day a child may have spoken two words and months later he may have a cumulative vocabulary of 3000 words. Parents receive daily reports of their child’s progress.
Why we are called Seahorse Institute
Seahorse: A ten-year-old boy with autism once told Dr. Major the little-known fact that a Seahorse is the only animal where the male gives birth instead of the female. “It touched me because it is unexpected and proves that anything is possible,” she explains. “We can never say never, that a child will not talk nor learn a skill. Seahorses exemplify the realm of possibility.”
Institute: An institute, unlike an institution, is a place where people share the latest research, science, and knowledge. And we are much more than that. Seahorse Institute has a wonderful mix of love and care, belief and hope, science and research. We believe that every child has hidden potential and use everything we can to help them and their families unlock this precious treasure.
Our Vision and Mission
Our vision: A world where individuals with special needs are valued participating members of their communities and that all parents have access to high-quality services, regardless of their ability to pay.
Our mission: Seahorse Institute is a unique collaboration of parents, professionals and community members, that provide a nurturing environment, and develop the full potential of each individual using research-based interventions and multidisciplinary approach addressing individual needs.