The Brown Center

At The Brown Center Chase receives several types of therapy, all under an ABA approach.  He gets speech therapy, occupational therapy, feeding therapy and many other things mixed in to his daily therapy routines and goals.  The Brown Center does and AMAZING job at integrating all the types of therapy, coordinating and communicating between all the therapists and parents, and showing proven results in their goals for each child through the discrete trial training that they do.  They combine a lot of different approaches to therapy to maximize each child's success and we are SO THRILLED to be at this amazing place.  They also do a wonderful job at training parents and teaching us to carry over the therapy at home, record the progress we see and work hand in hand with the therapists at BCA.  We are already seeing SO MUCH improvement in Chase since he started there and feel so blessed to be a part of this amazing place!  

From the BCA website:

An integrated ABA approach is the framework for delivery of the majority of services at The Brown Center. ABA approaches to treatment are individualized based upon the needs of your child, and include Discrete Trial Training, Verbal Behavior, and Incidental Teaching. A Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) will design and monitor behavioral programming for your child and create appropriate programs to assist the speech and occupational therapists in targeting their goals as well.  The purpose of this unique arrangement is to streamline behavioral support and teaching styles across all therapeutic disciplines.

For maximum outcomes, research supports the embedding of instruction in all environments–both structured and natural. Because of this, specific behavioral targets are tracked across all settings at the center and in the home environment, and functional replacement behaviors are taught utilizing Positive Behavior Support (Jolivette, Gallagher, Morrier, & Lambert, 2008) . Parents are also provided a home Daily Lesson Plan and trained in Incidental Teaching approaches which families are to implement within their daily routines. By systematically blending teaching into all environments, children receive more than 25 hours per week of planned intervention through a combination of both center and home based teaching.

Speech and Language goals are targeted four days per week in either a 1:1 or 1:2 setting. Our Speech-Language Pathology team collaborate with the BCBA, OT, assistants, and parents in methods of targeting speech and language goals specific to each child throughout all therapy sessions as well as throughout the child´s entire day. Children also enjoy the opportunity of utilizing autism-specific computer software programs to enhance their acquisition of speech-language and social skills. (such as Chase using Proloquo2Go on his iPad for communication).  Speech and Language goals are monitored and updated weekly, and each child’s comprehensive treatment plan is reevaluated on a quarterly basis.

Occupational Therapy assessments are conducted by our staff OT and goals are developed for each child based on these assessments. Gross motor, fine motor, and self-help goals are targeted for each child four days per week in 1:1, 1:2 (for fine motor or feeding therapy) or small group sessions (groups of 4 or less for gross motor skills combined with socialization). OT will determine each child’s need for sensory integration accommodations and will provide consultation to the team and to parents in strategies to address individualized sensory processing disorder goals in every setting. The OT will collaborate with each child’s team in order to provide quarterly updated goals for each child.

Social skill goals will be selected by each child’s team and may be targeted explicitly within a speech and language session or other settings as determined by the Speech and Language Pathologist. The team will integrate social goals whenever possible within all treatment sessions and therapies. Social skills camps may also be available during the summer months.

Typical friends from the community are invited to play with us through our BCA Academy Program. Teacher/child ratios will remain equal to or better than 1:4 during incidental classroom teaching sessions and gross motor activities. Research overwhelmingly supports the benefits of an inclusive classroom setting to both typically developing children and children with autism.

Parental knowledge and involvement is essential for a child´s potential to be fully realized. Published research also states that parents who serve as direct service providers in their child´s intervention often report reduced feelings of depression and stress, and increased feelings of empowerment (Bennett, 2012).

Parents of children in our program commit to eight hours (four per parent) per calendar month to active participation in their child´s program and in parental education.  These hours may include direct participation in therapy sessions with their child at either the center or during a visit from a home therapist, attending counseling sessions or support group meetings, attending an educational seminar offered at the center, or other options designed to meet the widely varying needs and availability of families.

The Brown Center is designed with the idea that teaching parents is equally as vital as teaching children. For this reason, 12 hours per week of Center-based direct therapy are provided to each child. Additionally, parents are expected to be familiar with their child´s daily lesson plan, as well as demonstrate a willingness to implement new skills in the home environment. In this way, skills are best generalized across multiple environments and with a variety of significant people in your child’s life. Our ultimate goal is both progress for the child and empowerment for family.

The Brown Center for Autism recognizes that being a family member of an individual with autism can be both a rewarding and stressful life experience.

Because of this, each family will receive two family counseling sessions per month to be delivered at the Center by a Licensed Psychologist who is also experienced in working with children with ASD. Families can choose to utilize these sessions as individual, couple or family sessions.

The Brown Center also offers two monthly support groups for enrolled families–a Mom’s Group and a Couple’s Group. There is no additional charge to families for these services, and attendance at any counseling or support group is considered as credit toward a family’s four hours of education/participation each month.

We understand that many parents of children with autism often spend countless hours in less-than-comfortable waiting areas while their children receive therapy services. With this in mind, our facility was uniquely designed to provide a peaceful and relaxing environment for parents visiting the Center for counseling services. A separate entrance and waiting area was created especially for parents coming to the Center to meet with our Family and Child Therapist or with administration.