Children on the Autism Spectrum as well as

children with other disorders such as Central

Auditory Processing or Sensory Processing

Disorder struggle with executive functioning,

emotion regulation, social communication and

sensory integration.  Below we have listed a

small description of each of these areas of

concern.  At ARC we are trained in Social Thinking. Michelle Garcia-Winner is nationally recognized for her work with Autism and her strategies are at the core of our work with children on the Autism Spectrum. Individual therapy can be helpful for students, but group therapy has been proven to be very effective as well. Call us today to discover the options we have to support your student at home and at school. 

Executive Functioning refers to such skills as organizing, prioritizing, scheduling, and staying on task.  Delays in this area can effect homework completion, getting to places on time, keeping track of belongings, task completion and motivation to name a few. 

Emotion Regulation refers to the ability to control one’s emotions and to exhibit the appropriate emotion or amount of emotion in a given situation.  Delays in this area are seen in frequent emotional outbursts, temper tantrums, frustration with change in routine, and extreme emotional reaction towards other’s behavior or words.  

Social Communication, sometimes referred to as building social skills, refers to one’s ability to navigate day to day communication at home, in school, with peers, in public settings, in large and small groups and in structured and unstructured environments. Delays in this area are often seen when students struggle with eye contact, having a two-way conversation, understanding the necessity of getting along socially or in a classroom setting, understanding of idioms and other difficult patterns of language and misperception of other’s facial expressions or words. Delays are also seen in the ability to take the perspective of another or appreciate it.

Sensory Integration refers to the integrating of sound, light, smells, tastes, textures or anything else that effects our five senses. Delays in this area are seen when a child has extreme sensitivities to certain kinds of fabrics, strongly dislikes or desires certain light such as fluorescent or blue lights, is sensitive to noises sudden or otherwise, is particular about the foods they will tolerate or reactive to environmental or food smells.