April is World Autism month, a time to raise awareness and acceptance of those living with autism here in southeast Michigan, our sponsor, MetroEHS works daily with children who have autism and others with development conditions. They’re a neighborhood therapy company with several locations in metro Detroit to assist families right where they live. And as April Morton shows us, their collaborative care is changing lives.
It may appear these kids are just plain and having a good time, and they are. But every item here serves a purpose and is part of a therapy called Apply Behavior Analysis or ABA.
The things that we work on in ABA are increasing communication, increasing social interactions and independence with daily tasks, and we also can lessen challenging behaviors as well.
Deanna Coker is the director of ABA services for MetroEHS and says they use this play-based form of therapy to enhance the lives of children with disabilities such as autism, a disorder many have heard of, but may not completely understand.
Typically characterized by an impairment in communication and social interaction. And we often see repetitive and restrictive patterns of behavior as well.
Detecting Autism Behavior
She says some of the early signs they see in kiddos are lack of eye contact, lack of facial expressions, lack of communication, and lack of interest in interaction.
If your child is displaying, not responding to their name, not showing facial expressions around that 12 to 15 month mark, that’s going to be a red flag. And if they’re not communicating between 12 and 24 months, 18 to 24 months, yeah, it’s definitely a big red flag.
The therapist here says that’s where the ABA therapy can help with increasing these abilities and preparing children for school. They also offer physical, occupational, speech, and mental health services for the child and their families. And as mentioned, everything here serves a purpose.
Play Based Therapy
A lot of kids will just love playing in the ball pit. Sometimes it’s a good sensory or play break for our kids, our kids that are working on coordination. We can work on catching and throwing balls popping up. Our speech therapists are really good about what color are the balls? Are they big? Are they small? Play is truly the child’s occupation and we don’t want to take that away from ’em.
And one of the big things that makes this play approach unique is that kids are learning and developing in a different and natural way. Again, there are Several MetroEHS locations in Metro Detroit. And more on the way so find the location nearest you. MetroEHS can help with ABA, Speech, Occupational, Feeding, and Physical Therapies.
