Welcome to Stars Infant Program | Stars Therapy Services

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Serves Across California

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Monday - Friday 8:00 - 6:00pm

Weekends vary.

855-773-STAR (7827) (Southern CA)

info@starstherapyservices.com

844-700-9889 (Northern CA)

info@starsinfantprogram.com

Stars Therapy Services > ABA Therapy

Stars Therapy Services Autism Program across California provides a wide variety of interventions that help individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Services for Young Children (Birth to 3 years of age)

Learn about the early childhood services Stars provides including our network of inclusive child care, early intervention, and other social integration in play based programs.

Services for School Aged Children and Youth

Stars partners with families and school systems to offer a wide variety of services for school aged children and youth. Services include Applied Behavior Analysis, social integration, outpatient therapy, and school to work transition program.

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can vary in severity of symptoms, age of onset, and the presence of various features such as language and intellectual ability. The manifestations of ASD can differ considerably across individuals. Even though there are strong and consistent commonalities, especially in social deficits, there is no single behavior that is always present in every individual with ASD and no behavior that would automatically exclude an individual from diagnosis of ASD.

 

How can I tell if someone I know has Autism?

Individuals with ASD interact with others differently. They often appear to have difficulty understanding and expressing emotion, and may express attachment in a different manner. Individuals with ASD report that they want to have social relationships with others and build friendships.

Many individuals with ASD do not develop effective spoken language and rely upon other methods of communicating such as pointing to pictures or using a tablet computer with special language applications.  Others have echolalia, the repeating of words or phrases over and over. Individuals with ASD often have difficulty understanding the nonverbal aspect of language such as social cues, body language and vocal qualities (pitch, tone and volume).

Individuals with ASD often have a great need for “sameness” which can make them upset if objects in their environment or time schedules change. Children with ASD may not “play” with toys in the same manner as their peers and may become fixated on specific objects. Persons with ASD have a different reaction to sensory stimuli seeing, hearing, feeling or tasting things with more or less intensity than others.

Children with ASD often have a different rate of development especially in the areas of communication, social and cognitive skills. In contrast, motor development may occur at a typical rate. Sometimes skills will appear in children with ASD at the expected rate or time and then disappear.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a lifelong disability that is generally diagnosed before the age of three years old. However, often children are misdiagnosed or not diagnosed until later in life. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests parents consider the following questions:

Does your child…

  • Have poor eye contact?
  • Does not speak as well as his or her peers?
  • Not respond selectively to his or her name?
  • Act as if he or she is in his or her own world?
  • Seem to tune others out?
  • Not have a social smile?
  • Seem unable to tell you what he or she wants, preferring to lead you by the hand or get desired objects on his or her own, even at risk of danger?
  • Have difficulty following simple commands?
  • Not bring things to you simply to show you?
  • Not point to interesting objects to direct your attention to objects or events of interest?
  • Have unusually long and severe temper tantrums?
  • Have repetitive, odd, or stereotypic behaviors?
  • Show an unusual attachment to inanimate objects, especially hard ones (e.g. flashlight or a chain vs. teddy bear or blanket)?
  • Prefer to play alone?
  • Demonstrate an inability to play with toys in the typical way?
  • Not engage in pretend play (if older than 2 years)?

 

What to do if you think your child has autism

Call us today and we’ll partner with you to ensure you acquire the necessary care to help your child to achieve his or her developmental potential!