As a parent, it is our goal to love and protect our children. This means doing everything in our power to make sure our child is loved, happy, and healthy. While it may be difficult to admit your child may have a problem, when it comes to an autism diagnosis, every minute matters. The best thing you could do for your child with autism is identify it early and enroll them in ABA therapy as soon as possible.

Signs that Your Child May be Autistic and What to Do

Autism spectrum disorder is a spectrum of closely related disorders with shared core symptoms. Autism generally appears in infancy and early childhood, causing a delay in basic areas of development such as talking, playing and interacting with others.

As a parent, it is important to look for early signs of autism in your child. Symptoms can appear as early as six months of age and ideally, autism should be identified and treated beginning by 18 months of age. This will provide your child with the best opportunity for treatment.

What are the early signs of autism you should look for in your child and what steps should you take if you think your child has autism?

• Developmental Delays – autism involves a variety of developmental delays including: no social smiling, lack of eye contact, poor visual tracking, unexpected reactions to sounds, lack of social babbling, not responding to name, lack of interest in interacting, not meeting verbal milestones, etc…
• Trust your instinct – as a parent, you know your child best. Sometimes, even well-meaning doctors can miss signs of autism. If your gut is telling you something is wrong, take action and be persistent.
• Don’t “wait and see” – some parents may want to “wait and see” if their child hasn’t reached certain developmental milestones. If you suspect something may be wrong, take action. The best thing you can do for your child with autism is identify the diagnosis early and begin treatment.

Do you suspect your child may have autism?

Over the years, Lighthouse Autism Center has continually worked to improve the experience of each family member with the center. One such way is through the recent addition of speech therapy to the center’s services.

So why did Lighthouse Autism Center decide to offer speech therapy?

It is common for children with autism to require multiple types of therapy, including speech therapy. At Lighthouse Autism Center, we often observed families with a child in need of speech therapy navigate the long and arduous process of obtaining these services. For families, this often included months or even years on a wait list, and once approved, then trying to navigate how a family would pay for the services and how the child would get there. Parents would often have to leave their job to pick up a child from Lighthouse, transport them to speech therapy and then return them to Lighthouse, creating a great deal of extra stress for families

It was through these observations that Lighthouse realized they could further help families by offering speech therapy at their centers. Now, children who attend Lighthouse can not only receive the crucial ABA therapy they need, but also speech therapy, better serving the child and family.

At Lighthouse Autism Centers, we pride ourselves on providing top-quality ABA therapy services. Not only does this mean providing the very best therapy for children who attend the center, but also, providing the best possible experience for the entire family – an idea we like to refer to as the “Disneyland Effect.”

The “Disneyland Effect,” is the idea that from the moment you enter Lighthouse, the entire family will be receiving a first-class therapy experience. Each center is cleaned and sanitized multiple times daily. Each center is safe requiring visitors to have a key fob for access. Parents are also able to access the centers at any time. Centers are brightly decorated, warm, and welcoming. And, most importantly, Lighthouse only hires the most qualified staff to provide ABA services to its kiddos. Each therapist has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, special education, or a related field. The program managers who oversee each child’s therapy program are board certified behavior analysts with a master’s degree in ABA therapy. This combination of world-class centers and the very best staff creates the “Disneyland Effect” allowing Lighthouse to offer the very best in ABA therapy to children and families in northern Indiana.