Lighthouse Autism Center Opens New Center in Portage, Indiana!

Therapy room at Lighthouse Autism Center with toys on a table with blue chairs and book shelves above

Lighthouse Autism Center Opens New Center in Portage, Indiana!

ABA Therapy Center is Now Open in Portage, Indiana!

Lighthouse Autism Center (LAC) continues to expand autism clinics, with a network of centers in now, three states – quite a journey from its humble beginnings serving four families in one building to now serving hundreds of families across three states for nearly a decade, it’s truly amazing.

Our newest Portage autism center opened on June 6, 2022 and will provide autism services to 28 children and their families, create over 40 new jobs in the area.  This children’s autism center is the 25th Lighthouse Autism Center to open it’s doors and provide quality ABA therapy services to children with autism. To learn or more or inquire about enrollment, visit www.lighthouseautismcenter.com.

Portage Autism Center Exterior clinic
Portage Autism Center Entry
Portage Autism Center – Autism Learning Center
Portage Autism Center – Play-based Therapy

With a mission of providing the highest quality autism services to children and families through our facilities, Lighthouse has sought to do just that in Portage, IN. As the need for ABA services continues to grow, Lighthouse seeks to fill that need by expanding into areas of high demand, helping more families and children with autism, reach their goals.

Lighthouse Autism Center is the Midwest’s leading autism therapy provider.

With beautiful facilities that promote natural and play-based learning, and a team of highly trained and compassionate clinicians, Lighthouse Autism Center brings together compassionate care and clinical excellence to offer the highest quality ABA therapy to children with autism.

Autism Center for Speech and Language

With a unique clinical model called Lighthouse Fusion™, children at Lighthouse are making greater progress, faster, all while having fun. While other ABA centers typically keep ABA and speech therapies separate, Lighthouse Fusion™ brings these two therapies together into one enhanced therapy solution. We invite you to learn more about how this innovative clinical model is helping to unlock each child’s potential.

To learn more about Lighthouse Autism Center or enroll your child, contact our Family Outreach Coordinator at (574)-387-4313

New Portage Center Contact Information​

3125 Willowcreek RD
Portage, Indiana 46368

Family Outreach Phone: (574)-387-4313

https://lighthouseautismcenter.com/autism-treatment-center-in-portage-in-2/

Find a Center Near You

Interested in finding an autism center near you? Click Find a Center below to view a full list of current autism therapy centers.

Lighthouse Fusion ™: Meeting the Child Where They Are Most Engaged

Meeting the Child Where They Are Most Engaged

Child and clinician working with positive reinforcements. Clinician engaging child’s interests to make learning fun!
Naturalist play-based therapy helps children with socialization along with many other skills.

Play-based ABA Therapy


Lighthouse Autism Center offers beautiful, play-based environments. With an innovative ABA therapy model called Lighthouse Fusion ™, children make greater progress, faster, all while having fun. Together speech and ABA fuse into one comprehensive program. Children are immersed in imaginary spaces where they can naturally explore their interests, engage in sensory experiences, and practice language. Each child’s progress can be seen in smiles and laughter because we know children learn best when they’re having fun. The therapist follows the child’s lead to find out what he or she enjoys.  At every opportunity, the therapist tries to enhance an activity’s fun quotient with their presence.  The goal is that the child will want to work for the therapist and will, therefore, be an active, happy, and engaged learner.

Tailored Autism Treatment Plans

A therapist may be highly qualified, and the treatment plan may be exquisitely tailored to the child’s needs, but if the child refuses to engage with the therapist, then efficient learning won’t occur.  Lighthouse Fusion is an enhanced program with an innovative clinical model that delivers better outcomes, faster. Our naturalistic play environment allows each learner to develop readiness skills, simulating real-life situations, all while having fun. Each object in the pay centers were strategically selected with an intended purpose. Some toys may help with the development of social skills, while others are intended to help with speech and language development. Lighthouse Autism Center strives to create a welcoming, comfortable environment that provokes natural learning and fun.

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

Lighthouse Fusion ™: Fusing Together ABA and Speech Therapy

Fusing ABA and Speech Into One Enhanced Therapy Solution

Lighthouse Fusion ™ was developed by a team of dually certified clinicians at Lighthouse Autism Center is an enhanced therapy solution that blends the best practices of ABA and speech therapies into one comprehensive program.  At Lighthouse, we are committed to bringing together compassionate care and clinical excellence to unlock that potential and help each child achieve the possible. We believe each child has unique and unlimited potential.

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ABA has long been the gold-standard for autism therapy. Research shows that building motivation and rewarding success is effective in delivering superior outcomes for children. Lighthouse Fusion ™ applies these same principles to speech development in a one-of-a-kind therapy program. Developed by a team of dually certified clinicians at Lighthouse Autism Center, some of only a handful in the entire country, the program brings together experts in the fields of speech and ABA to collaborate on goal development, deliver therapy, and celebrate each child’s progress.

  • Integrated therapies: Fusion brings together speech and ABA into one comprehensive program.
  • Collaborative team: Each child has a behavior analyst, speech therapist, and registered behavior technician working together to support their progress. Three clinicians, one goal.
  • Enhanced Progress: an innovative clinical model that delivers better outcomes, faster.

How Lighthouse Uses Integrative Therapy

At Lighthouse Autism Center, we offer the highest quality therapy in a beautiful, play-based environment. With an innovative ABA therapy model called Lighthouse Fusion, children make greater progress, faster, all while having fun. This is where compassionate care meets clinical excellence. Children are immersed in imaginary spaces where they can naturally explore their interests, engage in sensory experiences, and practice language. Each child’s progress can be seen in smiles and laughter because we know children learn best when they’re having fun.

To learn more about Lighthouse Fusion, click here.

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

2022 Autism Awareness Scholarship Winner!

Congratulations to our 2022 Autism Awareness Scholarship Recipient

In 2020, Lighthouse Autism Center established the Lighthouse Autism Center Autism Awareness scholarship. This scholarship is intended to provide financial assistance to an individual enrolled at a college or university as an undergraduate student in their junior or senior year, preferably in an area that we currently serve. While we had many impressive applications, Heather Hilliard was selected as the awardee for this scholarship.

Autism Awareness Scholarship Winner

Heather Hillard is a senior undergraduate student at Ball State University. Heather is pursuing a bachelors in speech pathology with a minor in educational psychology. She is a first-generation college student who strives to make her goals of achieving a master’s degree in speech-language pathology, into a reality.

Heather chose this major for many reasons, but the biggest one has been the incredible speech-language pathologists that influenced her in her own early development. Heather was a child who experienced a slow speech development and was diagnosed with apraxia of speech.  She had surgery for tubes to be placed in her ears at 2 years-old, and she knew it was something she was going to be dealing with for a while, with many speech therapists to come.

Shortly after that, Heather found herself at the young age of three, working with an at-home speech-language pathologist, followed by a year in the Pals Program at the local high school, a year of Head Start at an elementary school, and finally working with another elementary school’s SLP during her kindergarten year.

This really resonated with Heather as she started researching her options for a college and a field of study, since this was a challenge that she faced as a child. Heather knew that in her heart it was right where she needed to be in order to get speech therapy to kids as young as possible to reach their unlimited potential.

Heather has worked in prior roles as a substitute teacher as well as a Registered Behavior Technician. She attributes these experiences to creating the pathway for her to pursue a career in speech pathology. Heather enjoys working with children and finding creative ways to make speech activities effective and fun. She has worked with children with a variety of disabilities, nonverbal and limited speaking abilities.

Heather is a responsible student who values and practices hard work and rigorous study. She has maintained an impressive 3.9 GPA and has been named on the Dean’s List every semester at Ball State University.  Heather plans to apply to Ball State’s graduate program upon completing her undergraduate degree and will work towards earning her SLP-A certification. She hopes to provide speech services to Central Indiana and surrounding communities to continue giving back to the state that has allowed her to flourish into the young adult that she has become today.

Congratulations Heather!

Learn more about the Autism Awareness Scholarship

Lighthouse Autism Center Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Celebrating 10 Years

Lighthouse Started from Humble Beginnings

It’s hard to believe that it has been a full decade since Lighthouse Autism Center first opened its doors. From humble beginnings of just serving four families in Mishawaka, Lighthouse Autism Center now provides autism services to over 500 families across three states.  On May 21, 2012, Lighthouse Autism Center opened its very first center in Mishawaka, Indiana. With a handful of clients and a small team of clinicians, we began providing ABA therapy services to the Michiana community.

Over the past ten years, Lighthouse has grown into a leading center-based provider of ABA therapy for children on the autism spectrum, with a network of centers across Indiana, southwestern Michigan, and Illinois. As the largest ABA provider in the state of Indiana, Lighthouse has a reputation for bringing together compassionate care with clinical excellence, with autism therapy programs supported by a beautiful play-based environment that supports the best possible outcomes for children with autism.  To think that Lighthouse stated with just one center and has now grown to over twenty centers is truly incredible.

When Gregg and Sandy Maggioli pursued their dream of providing the highest quality autism therapy services to families in Mishawaka, they never could have imagined just how big and how far that dream would come ten years later. Through a passionate team of individuals dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families with autism, Lighthouse Autism Center has impacted hundreds of clients and thousands of individuals across the state of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan serving as not only an ABA provider, but an advocate and support for special needs families.

We are grateful to all of our clients, families, staff, physicians, advocates and individuals who have been a part of the Lighthouse family for the past ten years and look forward to what another year will bring!

Follow us on Facebook to see all the exciting activities we will be doing in May, to celebrate 10 years of Lighthouse Autism Center! Click here: https://www.facebook.com/LighthouseAutismCenter

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

Lighthouse Celebrates Autism Awareness and Acceptance!

April is Autism Awareness Month

Lighthouse Autism Center plans to take this month to celebrate those with autism through awareness, acceptance and understanding that each individual is as unique and different as each of our fingerprints.

Lighthouse is celebrating through activities that staff and children can participate in such as spirit week, a South Bend Cubs sensory friendly game, a sensory film with Yes Cinema, craft days, friendly center competition with creative autism awareness displays, and so much more!

Autism Awareness and Acceptance

Autism Awareness is special to our Lighthouse team and this month we have committed to celebrating everything that makes autism so wonderfully different.

If you would like to see Lighthouse’s Autism Awareness activities during the month of April, please follow us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/LighthouseAutismCenter

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

South Bend Cubs Autism Awareness Day Presented by Lighthouse

Lighthouse Autism Center Celebrates Autism Awareness and Acceptance Day

Sunday, April 10, 2022, 2:05PM at Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN

Lighthouse Autism Center and the South Bend Cubs are partnering to host an Autism Awareness Day with the South Bend Cubs. Gate opens at 12pm. First pitch is at 2:05pm. Home Plate Suite will be open as a sensory room.

Congratulations to the t-shirt design winner, Tracy Galicia, Registered Behavioral Therapist!

Checkout Tracy’s design below! This design will be featured on the South Bend Cubs special edition Autism Awareness shirts and hoodies, for the month of April!

These shirts and hoodies will be available for purchase from the South Bend Cubs, in-store and online: https://southbendcubs.milbstore.com/

The Cubs Den team store hours are Monday – Friday 10:00am-5:00pm and Saturday 10:00am – 2:00pm and is located at 420 S. William St in South Bend.

Join us for a sensory friendly game that will support autism awareness!

Check out the sensory room!

Learn More Here: https://www.milb.com/south-bend/tickets/promotions

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

Bringing Effective Behavior Analytic Speech Techniques to Dublin, Ireland

Three LAC Members Present at the ABAI in Ireland

Every two years the Association for Behavior Analysis International hosts an international conference during which behavior analysts from all over the world converge to share research and ideas.  This year’s conference will be held in Dublin, Ireland.  Three Lighthouse Autism Center speech-language pathologists: Samantha Farber, Emily Sears and Janine Shapiro will be in attendance and Lighthouse Autism Centers’ paper was accepted for presentation.

Janine Shapiro will be demonstrating effective behavior analytic speech techniques to address common speech concerns of behavior analysts.

We’re excited to bring our Lighthouse Fusion tricks to an international stage so we can help learners and practitioners near and far!

Learn more about the conference here: Conference Home – Association for Behavior Analysis International (abainternational.org)

Janine directs Lighthouse Fusion, an enhanced therapy solution that blends the best practices of ABA and speech therapies into one comprehensive program. Developed by a team of dually certified clinicians at Lighthouse Autism Center, some of only a handful in the entire country, the program brings together experts in the fields of speech and ABA to collaborate on goal development, deliver therapy, and celebrate each child’s progress.

At Lighthouse Autism Center, we offer the highest quality therapy in a beautiful, play-based environment. With Lighthouse Fusion, children make greater progress, faster, all while having fun.

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

Driving a Global Impact with Innovative Techniques

Innovative Techniques of ABA and Speech Therapy

Our very own Janine Shapiro, CCC-SLP, BCBA, Director of Speech/ABA Integration at Lighthouse Autism Center, recently presented at a highly attended Beijing-organized presentation. This was a virtual presentation that was quick to fill at full capacity, with several of China’s behavioral analyst in attendance! The focus of this presentation was behavior analytic techniques to establish and increase vocal communication.

Janine at Lighthouse Fusion

Janine directs Lighthouse Fusion, an initiative to fuse speech-language pathology and behavior analysis at Lighthouse Autism Center. She has practiced as a dually certified behavior analyst and speech-language pathologist for fourteen years and remains one of only a handful of clinicians with both certifications in the world. She speaks at conferences and training events around the world and passionately shares the power of behavior analysis with fellow speech-language pathologists. Janine co-authored research concerning the effectiveness of Social Thinking therapy, which was published in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders and co-authored a chapter in Essential for Living—a curriculum guide and assessment tool for people with moderate to severe disabilities.

Lighthouse Autism Center could not be more thankful for her passion and dedication to helping our clients reach their unlimited potential. Janine is a phonemical asset to the Lighthouse team. We cannot wait to follow her journey as she continues to educate the world on behavior analytic techniques!

Together, we can unlock your child’s potential

Brewing up success with one Lighthouse Autism Family

Following the Journey of Nick – delivering 22 years of compassionate care

Featuring Maggie Curry, Program Manager, BCBA

2010

Maggie Curry started working with Nick at an ABA provider in 2010. He was 6 years old at the time. His family moved to Indiana from Nebraska for quality ABA services when Nick was 3 or 4 years old. At this time, Nick’s family was dedicated to his care and fostering his unlimited potential. Even at his early age, Nick’s family would talk about their goals of life readiness and future employment when he was old enough. Nick’s mother wanted to own a coffee shop and employ Nick, so that she could remained involved with his needs.

2013

Nick ended up starting in school and changed ABA providers before beginning at Access which has since been acquired by Lighthouse Autism Center. Maggie started at Access in 2014 and was once again Nick’s therapist for in-home services. As he grew older, he took a liking and interest to the kitchen, always assisting his mom with meals, baking, groceries, and in any way he could. This further fueled the idea to have him work in a restaurant or coffee shop.

Maggie was promoted to a trainer position while attending school to become a Board Certified Behavior Analysist and remained involved with Nick’s programming for supervision and training his therapists. Once she was certified, Maggie became Nick’s BCBA.

2021

Nick’s parents made the decision to invest in a coffee shop franchise based out of Nebraska and open one here in Indiana. They are a very close family and often travel back to Nebraska to visit and spend holidays there as well, in addition to much of their family from Nebraska coming to Indiana to visit often – some have even moved here permanently!

2022

It’s a long process for Nick and his family and they are working on finding the perfect location and hope to have a shop opened within the next year. By then, Nick will be 18 years of age and will be their first employee! They are also hoping to hire a few other employees with special needs and offer a safe and accepting environment for them to continue to grow and gain independence.

“It’s been amazing to work with Nick and his family for so long and watch this dream unfold. I’ve worked with them for 12 years, and while I’ll be sad not to work with Nick any longer, I cannot wait to go to Scooter’s and order a cup of coffee!” Maggie Curry, Program Manager, BCBA

Nick’s story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfv0W4uirGY

At LAC, we are seeing incredible progress made by our learners every day.

Lighthouse Autism Center Opens New Center in Anderson, Indiana!

Lighthouse Autism Center Opening in Anderson, Indiana!

Lighthouse Autism Center (LAC) continues to expand, with a network of centers in now, three states – quite a journey from its humble beginnings serving four families in one building to now serving hundreds of families across three states for nearly a decade, it’s truly amazing.

Our newest state-of-the-art facility is slated to open on Monday February 14, 2022. This new, cutting-edge facility will operate in place of the existing Anderson center location, providing autism services to 35 children and their families and create over 15 new jobs in the area.  To learn or more or inquire about enrollment, visit www.lighthouseautismcenter.com.

Center for Learning and Autism Support Services

With a mission of providing the highest quality autism services to children and families through our facilities, LAC has sought to do just that in Anderson, IN. As the need for ABA services continues to grow, LAC seeks to fill that need by expanding into facilities that can accommodate a larger capacity of learners, helping more families and children with autism, reach their goals.

Lighthouse Autism Center provides a unique ABA therapy model called Lighthouse Fusion that fuses together the sciences of ABA and speech therapy. By blending multiple research-proven therapies into one comprehensive program, and integrating highly trained, compassionate staff, Lighthouse Autism Center offers families the most enhanced and effective approach to autism treatment available.

Autism Center for Speech and Language

Our center-based therapy is overseen by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA). BCBA’s are given small caseloads to provide individual and personalized attention and programming for each child. All therapy is 1:1 and most children receive 40 hours of therapy per week at our centers.

To learn more about Lighthouse Autism Center or enroll your child, contact our Family Outreach Coordinator at (317)-222-1242

New Anderson Center Contact Information​

7311 Quality Circle
Anderson, Indiana 46013

Family Outreach Phone: (317)-222-1242

Find a Center Near You

Interested in finding an autism center near you? Click Find a Center below to view a full list of current autism therapy centers.

Lighthouse Autism Center Announces New Location in Noblesville, Indiana

New Location Center Opens in Noblesville, Indiana

Lighthouse Autism Center has some exciting news to share with you! This fall, Lighthouse Autism Center will open a new location in Noblesville, Indiana! The newest center will be part of the Access Together with Lighthouse Autism Center region and will be located at 15755 North Point Blvd.

The design of the Noblesville center will be consistent with other Access Together with Lighthouse Autism Center centers and will include curated materials and inspired spaces to promote language and learning.  The space will feature therapeutic areas to enhance skill acquisition in older learners without intensive behavioral needs.  Most importantly, the new clinic will house talented practitioners trained in typical speech and language development in addition to behavior analysis.

With an abundance of natural light, high ceilings, a gated outside play area, and plenty of parking, we have no doubt this center will be a beautiful and warm space where children are able to learn and thrive!

Find a Center Near You

Interested in finding an autism center near you? Click Find a Center below to view a full list of current autism therapy centers.

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