Autism Center

Conditions We Treat

We see babies, children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Autism spectrum disorder

Autism is a complex neurological disorder that affects the way a person thinks, behaves, communicates and interacts with others. Autism is a spectrum disorder. This means it affects some children mildly and affects other children much more. You may have heard these terms used to refer to autism: autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).

Services We Provide

Some of the specialty services we offer include:

Diagnostic evaluation

We will assess children as young as 16 months through early adulthood to see if they have ASD. For children under 16 months, we offer screening to find out if they are at risk for autism. We use a team approach to caring for your child. This means that we will work with you to design successful interventions and will consider your child’s unique medical, behavioral and educational needs. Our staff will help connect you with treatment and support services at Children’s and in the community.

Medication evaluation and management

We will prescribe medicines for problem symptoms only when it is safe and necessary. We will also work with you and your child during times of change or crises when medicine needs may change.

Medical management

Some children with autism also have medical issues. When necessary, your child will be evaluated and treated by other Children’s specialists. We will coordinate your child’s treatment with a comprehensive plan of care. We work with Children’s experts in areas such as Sleep Disorders, Gastroenterology, Genetics, Epilepsy and other sub-specialties.

Therapies

We offer a variety of forms of mental health therapy to treat the symptoms of autism. Services may involve individual and family treatment and parent education. Treatment may be necessary for teaching skills, reducing behavior problems or addressing related emotional concerns such as anxiety. There are many different ways that therapists treat autism. The therapy models that are used in our clinic include cognitive behavioral therapy, functional analysis, functional behavioral assessment, pivotal response training, behavioral feeding therapy, parent-child interaction therapy and other attachment-based therapies. We also provide interventions for social skills, such as group therapy with other children.

Parent education and support

Getting an autism diagnosis is an emotional experience. Accepting and understanding how life-altering it is takes help. You are not alone. We can connect you to parent support groups, resources within the Autism Center and community-based services. An autism diagnosis does not have to be an isolating experience. We can help you find other parents and families to share support, experience and hope. In addition, we offer classes to help you understand your child’s diagnosis. Since there is no single treatment for autism, we can help you learn about the various treatments available. We will help you make choices about appropriate, evidence-based treatment options and become a capable, confident advocate for your child.

School consultations

We provide Independent Education Evaluations (IEE) and other school consultations throughout Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Have your child’s school contact us at 206-987-8080 to arrange a consultation. Comprehensive evaluations can usually be completed within four to eight weeks.

Speech and language assessment

We provide comprehensive communication evaluation. Our team will assess your child’s ability to produce and understand language, social communication, nonverbal communication, social skills and play skills. An evaluation usually involves formal and informal testing measures, a parent and teacher report, observational assessment, and review of previous documents. The goals of a communication evaluation are to identify your child’s relative strengths and weaknesses and give recommendations for home and school settings to help with your child’s ongoing development.

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