Autism Support Services
Personalized Autism Support
Family First is committed to offering support for your child with Autism who may be experiencing unique challenges and strengths. We offer an evidence-based approach to encourage strengths and support growth in the most effective way. Autism Support Services can be provided, if necessary, in combination with other services offered at Family First in order to help you help your child reach his/her best potential. Individual treatment plans will be formulated to ensure top quality service.
Why Is It Important to Teach Social Skills to Children on The Autism Spectrum
Social skills are the rules and customs that guide our interactions with other people and the world around us. In general, people tend to learn social skills in the same way they learn language skills: naturally and easily. They use these skills in a flexible manner to navigate their environment. For people with autism it can be harder to learn these skills, forcing them to guess what their response to a particular environment should be. This often results in increased anxiety and lower self esteem.
Learning social skills is essential to helping the child become more independent at home, school, and within the community. By introducing these skills early and continuing to build on them, people with autism gain the necessary tools to successfully maneuver the world around them. This success results in greater self-confidence and higher self-esteem as well as assists in successfully building self-regulation and mastery with life skills in positive ways. Therefore, Social skills development for people with autism involves:
- Individualized programming and direct one to one instruction
- “Teachable moments” with practice in realistic settings
- Support for enhancing communication and sensory integration
- Learning behaviours that predict important social outcomes like building friendships and experiencing joy and happiness within relationships.
Description of Services
- Provide services to assist children with communication, behavioral, and socialization challenges associated with autism, utilizing the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA).
- Programs are designed to decrease challenging behaviour, while increasing skills necessary for effective communication, learning, and everyday living.
- In this service, treatment goals are collaboratively established with the individual and/or caregivers to promote growth, independence, and an improved quality of life
- parent consultations are provided
- Programming for school or home use is available
Short Term Intervention
- Meant to address an immediate or specific need (e.g., aggression towards others, tantrums, property destruction, self-injury) in home, school, or community
- Unique service designed to reduce a specific unwanted behaviour, and replace it with a more socially appropriate behaviour, using the principles of ABA.
