Patent for ACE® ABA Software System Recognized for Innovation in Autism Education

Southborough, Mass. – Oct. 6, 2016 – The New England Center for Children® (NECC®), a global leader in education and research for children with autism, announced today that they have been honored with an Invented Here! award by the Boston Patent Law Association (BPLA) for  NECC’s ACE® ABA Software System. The recognition was bestowed by the BPLA on Oct. 5 at a ceremony held at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The purpose of the Invented Here! Program is to celebrate New England innovators, their inventions, and the stories behind their innovations. Through the program, the BPLA is transforming the nation’s relationship with science and technology and providing educational opportunities that inform the public of these fascinating innovators and innovations. Since its inception in 2010, the Invented Here! Program has recognized 49 inventions and over 170 inventors for their contributions to the greater good based on their ingenuity and inventiveness.

“The Boston Patent Law Association is proud to honor local inventors for their contributions to technology, life sciences, and other innovations. The New England Center for Children is one such innovator,” said Erik Belt, the BPLA President.

The Invented Here! award was granted for NECC’s patent number 7974569, a method and apparatus for customizing lesson plans, a central component in NECC’s interactive educational software system. The Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia, or ACE® ABA Software System, is a cloud-based teaching system that includes more than 2,000 customizable lesson plans, the ability to go paperless by teaching and collecting data from a mobile device, multiple assessments, and automated graphing features. The ACE® ABA Software System gathers NECC’s 40 years of teaching, techniques and research into a practical, step-by-step program to ensure highest quality standards and effectiveness. All teaching is based on the proven scientific principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which identifies how children learn and what motivates their behavior. The ACE® ABA Software System is in use in 24 states and nine foreign countries.

“The New England Center for Children is honored to receive the Invented Here! award from the Boston Patent Law Association,” said Kathy Foster, M.Ed., Executive Advisor and former Chief Operating Officer of NECC. “Education services for children with autism are often challenging to find and vary greatly in quality. The ACE® ABA Software System puts best-practice lessons, techniques, and research into the hands of teachers across the nation and the world. NECC’s commitment to autism education is reflected in the technology innovation of ACE.”

The NECC inventors who developed the patent are Renee Carolyn Mansfield, Laura Larsen Dudley, Karen Theresa DeGregory, and Katherine Elizabeth Foster.

About The New England Center for Children
The New England Center for Children® is a world leader in education, research and technology for children with autism. For more than 40 years, our community of teachers, researchers and clinicians have been transforming lives and offering hope to children with autism and their families. NECC’s award-winning services include home-based, day, and residential programs; public school partnerships and consulting; the John and Diane Kim Autism Institute; and the ACE® ABA Software System used by more than 4,100 students in 24 states and nine countries. A 501c3 non-profit, The New England Center for Children is based in Southborough, MA, and also operates a center in Abu Dhabi, UAE. More information is available at www.necc.org.
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Contact:
Michele Hart
The New England Center for Children
(508) 481-1015 x4049
[email protected]