VerdugoHillsAutProj

Bio

Verdugo Hills Autism Project is a group of highly-trained professionals devoted to the caring and comprehensive treatment of children on the Autistic spectrum. It is our goal to make measurable positive changes in a child’s and family’s life. We train our staff members in relationship-building and effective methods of intervention based upon accumulated evidence and professional experience. A modern therapy for Autism integrates an understanding of the neurological information processing deficits with a relationship-based developmental model. We focus on helping children: develop increased interests; share experiences with others; regulate their emotions and organize their behavior. We help children become engaged while learning, appropriately respond to uncertainty, develop friendships, and find their place in the social world. Initially, the child receives a comprehensive assessment. Parents are interviewed in order to identify their concerns, and the child’s specific developmental needs, relative strengths, and relationship capacity. Further information is obtained through interviews with teachers and other professionals, and may incorporate standardized testing, as well as observations of the child in different settings. The assessment process provides the team with the information to develop an individualized treatment program. In a typical program, the developmental interventionists work in a school and/or at home (including the community), utilizing relationship/play-based methodologies and behavioral interventions, as well as addressing social communication and sensory processing issues. We believe it is important to involve siblings and significant family members as part of developing an integrated intervention program.