I am the mother of a 17 year old child with autism and other life threatening medical issues who is now a junior in high school. We have been Center for Growth and Development clients since the Center opened. However, I ran an ABA program for my son in my home since he was four and used many of the same consultants and therapists currently at the Center for my son’s program before they officially became CGD. Simply put, they were the best therapists I could find.
CGD consultants and therapists have taken my son all through school, including after school and summers, right up to his junior year in high school. I don’t know where he would be without the program CGD has provided to him throughout these years and I am eternally grateful for what they have given to him. The excellent quality of the Center program and their consultants and therapists have allowed my son to always be fully included in regular education classes. They pre-taught and post-taught material so he could participate in class discussions, made on the spot accommodations for him when he wasn’t understanding the material so that his whole day was reinforcing and productive, helped him with homework and worked tirelessly with the school teachers to make sure they fully included my son in their class. CGD shadowed him everywhere, including all class trips, extracurricular activities, violin and guitar lessons, art school, computer school, day camp and sleep away camp. Along the way they taught him how to have a conversation, how to be polite, how to play with kids, how to play indoor and outdoor games, how to jump on a trampoline, pump his legs on a swing, swim, ride a bike, drive a go cart, golf, computer skills, how to make breakfast and lunch and cleanup afterwards, and too many other skills to mention in this small space.
The CGD consultative team of BCBA’s and BCABA’s, whom I have known for years, is as top notch as you could find in this state with ongoing education, training and oversight to stay up on the latest evidenced based practices in ABA and autism. The Center staff is always professional, prepared, hardworking, well trained and very, very smart. The quality of the therapists has often been noticed and commented on at my son’s PPT meetings by school district personnel as well as staff from the various outside programs he has attended. (Some have even been caught trying to recruit CDG people for themselves.)
Perhaps most importantly, my son is medically compromised and has had several medical episodes in which CGD therapists have handled the situations smoothly and calmly making it easy for me as a parent to keep my sanity intact. The therapists took the time to learn about my son’s medical issues even though it wasn’t part of their program and can identify signs that he is in distress and react accordingly.
As a parent of a teenager with autism, I feel blessed that we have an agency like The Center for Growth and Development in our state and can recommend them, without prejudice, to any parent looking for a quality program run by honorable, smart, kind and professional people.
