Today was a busy day at Hope Center 4 Autism much like every other day. I saw a new client, she is 25 yr old and so amazing. Had a few meetings and finished with a parent meeting.

The parent meeting this afternoon was my last appointment of the day and well, I do not know how these parents do it. Four kids, one with autism, dad is a first responder so he is gone a lot, mom is a teacher. WOW, they are so awesome.

They are so sweet and kind, seeking help, wanting to do work at home to help their son. Layers and layers of information being shared, very quickly, our one hour meeting quickly turn into 2 hours. They need help with getting him to eat, timeout, sharing, taking turns, speech, birthday parties, getting their families to believe he has autism, the holidays and sleep.

What would you pick to work on? Where do you start?

We have to prep parents for change. They are in survival mode, doing the best they can and I want them to change what they are doing and do things our way? That cannot be easy. They don’t really know us very well at this point. It has to be scary to think about changing even if it is to make changes for the better, change is always hard. So today we talk a lot, we share a lot and we listen a lot.

We pick one thing for parents work on at home and we start a plan. We pick taking turns. Mom and child will play a game, they will follow a plan to play and take turns, mom will use the words we set up for her to use in the plan, they will play, they will take turns. This will create change. Mom will collect data ( keep notes) Once they are successful to our BCBA we will add to the plan. Everything is broken into small steps and taught one step at a time. This is how hope changes things, baby steps so everyone is successful.

I am blessed.
Autism looks different with therapy,
Autism the way I see it at Hope Center 4 Autism
Please excuse my typos and poor writing skills but I hope you hear my heart.

-Susan Wood, Executive Director

Tonight was our holiday open house, We do this every year and well, to be honest, there were very few folks who attended today. I could be sad and disappointed but I am not at all, I am thrilled.

Success looks very different at the Hope Center for Autism
Tonight was a bucket list kind of night, tonight was a gift.

Last April at our autism awareness rally one of our clients told me he wanted to talk in the microphone like he saw an older boy who often speaks with me does. I explained he had to work hard and practice speaking clearly and we would see.

Before I go any farther let’s step back a few years, you need to understand this child was totally nonverbal at age 4, would not make any eye contact or allow you to even touch him much at all. He was a hard child to work with at times.

OK, back to today at 12 years old, he stood before over 20+ adults he had never met and he answered questions about his day. He did not get a microphone but he was amazing. It was a surprise for him and his parents that I was going to ask him to talk tonight, they would have all been so nervous…I was a little nervous but mostly I was excited. I prayed it would go well. What an amazing moment to see a child reach such a goal. From nonverbal to sharing his day with strangers. Bucket List for me and my boy.

Then at the same time, there was a second young man attending, who shared about being bullied in public school and a little about his current school. And about his sock drive for the homeless, what? A person with autism cares about the homeless? A person with autism has compassion?

I am blessed.
Autism looks different from therapy,
Autism the way I see it at Hope Center 4 Autism

Please excuse my typos and poor writing skills but I hope you hear my heart.

-Susan Wood, Executive Director