Treatment (Intervention)

Clinicians at The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders provide a range of treatment and intervention services for individuals.

Your child may benefit from treatment, which may include one or more of the following:

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Clinical Services

The mission of the Behavior Intervention Services Division is to provide evidence-based, individualized behavioral treatment and professional training that improve the lives of individuals with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, ages 18 months to 22 years of age.

What is Applied Behavior Analysis?

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an evidenced-based approach to understanding behavior and how it is affected by the surrounding environment or context. Treatments based on applied behavior analysis use behavioral principles and strategies to bring about meaningful and positive changes in people and their lives.

Autism Speaks provides a thorough description of applied behavior analysis and evidence-based interventions for individuals with autism, www.autismspeaks.org.

Program Descriptions:

For all new families, the first part of our program is to work with our team to complete a Functional Behavioral Assessment. During this assessment process, we work with you to learn about your child’s behavior and development.

This will include review of records, interviews with you and other caregivers, observation, and direct assessment(s). We will identify “interfering” or “target behaviors” that may impede your child’s ability to learn from the natural environment, as well as work to identify replacement and prosocial behavior goals to help your child’s development and learning.

We will include recommendations regarding treatment strategies to address these goals, service options to meet your needs, as well as a list of potential providers who can offer these services beyond our center.

Areas addressed in treatment plans may include, but are not limited to:

Functional Communication
Feeding
Self-help skills
Social Skills classes
Toileting
Noncompliance
Play and Leisure Time
Sleeping
Repetitive Behavior

When appropriate, our treatment team will provide intensive parent support and consultation, as needed. We will support your family in teaching the identified areas of need, and may provide continued support to your family as needed.

Individual Therapy for Children and Teens and Family Therapy

Psychological interventions at the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders include evidence-based interventions such as cognitive, behavioral, and family therapy. During the intervention, the psychologist works in close collaboration with the parents to provide a continuum of care that extends into the home environment.

Psychological interventions are highly tailored to the needs of the child and the family to maximize success in the treatment of psychological problems.

The following are examples of psychological interventions provided to children and adolescents with ASD and comorbid disorders:

Behavior therapy for anxiety (including OCD and Phobias) and associated problems (e.g., sleep disturbances)
Anger management training
Stress management and relaxation training
Comprehensive behavior interventions for Tics and Tourette Syndrome
Family interventions for disruptive behaviors (e.g., oppositional-defiant behaviors)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for emotional difficulties

Speech Therapy

The mission of the speech and language services at The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders is to provide evidence-based, individualized speech and language assessment and treatment, parent education, and community outreach that will improve the lives of children with Autism and neurodevelopmental disorders.

The speech and language department offers thorough, individualized assessment of the speech and language skills for individuals from birth to 22 years who have a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), neurodevelopmental disorder, or other health conditions that affect development. In addition, the department offers individual and group speech and language therapy, as well as collaboration and co-treatment across disciplines. Individual, measurable goals are designed based on each patient’s evaluation and baseline skill level.

The speech program also includes support and informal assessment for the diagnostic team, collaboration with public school programs and other agencies outside the center, parent training, university collaboration, and community outreach.

The following areas are addressed through our program: