Peachtree Autism Services

Behavior modification techniques are powerful. We believe that we must listen to children to teach them skills that are meaningful for them. We work with families to be thoughtful about what skills we’re trying to teach so that children do not lose their autonomy, individuality, personality, or human rights.

Many people who have autism diagnoses also engage in stereotyping or “stimming.” We believe that stereotypy is only a concern when it impedes a child’s ability to learn, distracts the person from other things that they would rather be doing, or leads to unsafe behaviors when interrupted. Instead of punishing the child for engaging in stereotypy and eliminating it completely, we teach children how to consciously shift their attention to learn or engage socially with others when it’s relevant for them to do so.

Many autistic adults report that behavioral practices that were used with them were traumatizing. We don’t force compliance or eye contact in our treatment plans.

We individualize our treatment plans for our learners to ensure that they are developmentally appropriate for our learners. When working with young learners, we teach through play. When working with older learners, we teach through meaningful, naturalistic activities, such as games, household chores, routine activities, transitions, and cooking.