Home Based Therapeutic Services (HBTS)

They say the greatest lessons we learn in life start at home. That’s why the team at Alee Behavioral has worked hard to develop our Home-based Therapeutic Services for children with autism and related disorders.

Like with other interventive therapies, such as speech therapy and occupational therapy, these strategies are designed to provide your child with the structure and support they need to reach their full potential – with a smile on their face.

What happens during a home-based therapy session?

During a home-based therapy session, a member of our team will work closely with your child and family, providing support and therapeutic guidance. Children will develop new coping mechanisms, social skills, and confidence – though the exact nature of the support provided will vary on their unique needs.

For example, we may work with your child to help them develop better coping mechanisms when they feel overwhelmed, stressed or anxious. This is particularly pertinent when you consider that “autistic children and teenagers can experience anxiety more intensely and more often than other children.”

Coping strategies can also reduce the frequency or severity of autistic meltdowns, which are described by Ambitious About Autism as an example of our body’s fight response or “a reaction to a highly distressing situation or environment.” Your child’s therapist can work closely with them to find better ways to handle their stress and anxiety, so they do not have to experience this kind of scenario again.

Your therapist can also help your child develop better social skills and social awareness – which helps make them feel more comfortable and confident in their daily lives. For example, enhanced communication skills may enable them to speak more openly about their feelings while also allowing them to forge better relationships with their family or peers.

As children with autism and related disorders tend to thrive when given a routine to follow, your therapist can also help you put together the perfect routine for your child. This will provide them with a sense of structure and support every single day. They’ll also suggest ways to gradually alter this structure to help your child become more resilient to and accepting of change.

Finally, home-based therapeutic services can also benefit the entire family by giving parents and siblings a chance to better understand their family members with autism. They’ll also be more aware of the steps they can follow to promote their ongoing development.

What are the benefits of home-based therapeutic services for autism?

There are many benefits associated with this kind of therapeutic service. Firstly, they can make your child’s day-to-day life more manageable, which can heighten both their confidence and sense of independence.

Furthemore, studies have found “being relaxed in a familiar environment makes it easier to connect and build rapport with the client and their immediate support network, thus, maximising the benefits from therapy session.”

If you’d like to find out more, please do not hesitate to get in touch today. We’d be happy to discuss HBTS, or our other services in more detail.

Our success, both within our personal lives and in the professional realm, is often dictated by how we are able to communicate with those around us. After all, so much of our time is dedicated to social interaction and interpersonal relationships, even during the pandemic when the majority of these interactions occurred behind the screen.

However, for children with autism and related disorders, developing effective communication skills is harder than it would be for the average neurotypical person. In fact, it’s estimated that 40% of people with autism are nonverbal – with many others finding verbal or face-to-face communication difficult (AutismSpeaks)

While no two people experience autism in the same way, those with autism or related disorders may face communication barriers such as:

• Difficulty developing language skills.
• Difficulty regarding comprehension or understanding what others are saying or why they might be saying it.
• Poor understanding of non-verbal communication skills, such as body language, facial expressions, or gestures.
• Inability to maintain eye contact during conversation.
• Difficulty with self-expression.

However, there are various steps you can take to help your child with autism find their voice – with one of the most effective methods being therapy services such as speech therapy.

What is Speech Therapy?

Speech Therapy has a long and well-documented history and rose to prominence in the early 19th century. While it is an effective tool for those with autism and related disorders, it is also used to support children and adults with learning difficulties, language disorders, and those who experience hearing loss (amongst others).

During the typical speech therapy session, participants will work alongside a licensed therapist to develop a wide range of communication skills that will enable them to thrive in any environment.

These services often help children with autism and related disorders in all aspects of their life. For example, they may find it easier to communicate with their peers and develop better interpersonal relationships as a result. They can also help ready teens for entering the professional world. However (and perhaps most importantly), speech therapy can help children with autism, and related disorders discover the benefits of self-expression. When they can communicate more effectively, they’ll be able to let others know when they are unhappy and why – which could reduce the chances of them dealing with meltdowns or emotional outbursts.

What skills are developed in Speech Therapy?

Again, the nature of the speech therapy support will vary depending on the individual in question. However, these sessions often include:

• Learning how to better understand and approach certain emotions. For example, learning how facial expressions express both positive and negative feelings and how we can respond to these non-verbal cues.
• Learning how to attribute meaning and nuance to non-verbal signs of communication. For example, children may be asked to match facial expressions, gestures, or body language to specific phrases or sayings. This is sometimes achieved through the use of Social Stories. This technique will help children recognize these social cues moving forward to better respond to these situations.
• Learning how to modulate tone of voice to convey emotions. This technique can also be used to understand speech patterns and nuances in conversation, such as sarcasm.
• Working on making clearer speech sounds or even developing muscles in the mouth or jaw to facilitate this.
• Encouraging children with autism or related disorders to expand their communication skills so that they can discuss a wide range of topics aside from their special interests.
• Working on general social skills and understanding when it is their turn to contribute to a conversation or when communication is expected of them.

At Alee Behavioral, we provide children with autism and their families with a range of therapy services – including speech therapy, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and home-based therapeutic services. Get in touch to find out more!