TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A local autism therapy center is working with children to learn the skills they need to get into classrooms. Sixteen of their children made it into the new school year and recently celebrated with a graduation.
“It was great for the kiddos to see it and the families were so excited. There was not a dry eye in the place. And then also the therapists and the BCBA’s to see how much the kids have grown,” said Ashley Brock, Hopebridge Board Certified Behavior Analyst.
She works with the children on setting goals based on their unique needs. She said the most important step toward graduation is teamwork.
“Working with the families closely is really the key component,” said Brock.
Phil Giedraitis and his twins Marshall and Connor have been working with Hopebridge for the past year. “It’s a lot of work, especially when you have twins,” he said. He’s already seen a lot of progress.
“Their comprehension, their ability to communicate better what they want. Hands down so much better than they were a year ago,” he said.
His son Marshall has been working with a tool called the pec book to improve his communication.
“Marshall can do full sentences. He can literally put together a full sentence with his PEC book so he is above and beyond what he was about six months ago,” said Giedraitis.
Brock said many clients start out as nonverbal, and getting them to communicate is the main goal.
“A lot of times they tell their parents what they want and how they communicate is with behaviors. We might see crying, we might see screaming, we might see pushing or some aggression,” she said. “Out of all of our kiddos here if we were to look at one of the main goals is reducing that behavior and getting that communication up.”
Their main way to do this is by understanding the children and providing consistent support to bring out their brilliance in a way others can understand and appreciate.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
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