Circle time at Autism House helps children get accustomed to learning in a school environment.[/caption]

Miran Emrich, the mother of an 8-year-old boy with autism, moved from California to The Woodlands with her family three years ago and said she was surprised to find a community lacking resources for her son.

Autism and autism spectrum disorder affect more than 3 million individuals in the U.S. and are among the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the country, according to the organization Autism Speaks.

Despite this trend, only a handful of therapy centers for children with autism are available within Montgomery County lines.

“Autism is a big phenomenon in the country, and the providers in California, New York and Boston offer better, newer and innovative therapy methods,” Emrich said. “There’s very little to no information on those therapy methods in Texas overall.”

Facility limitations

Not only is the community lacking different types of therapy for children with autism, but many of the facilities that do exist have also reached capacity and have long waiting lists, local business owners said. In addition, many children have to travel to the clinics from as far as Bellaire, Huntsville and Katy.

“There’s a big need for [autism therapy centers], and there are enough kids to go around for everyone,” Autism House owner Jessica Cordova said. “I have seen other businesses pop up recently that are similar [to Autism House] or are geared toward special needs, but I think that there’s still such a need out there that it hasn’t hurt business for us at all. We just try to help as many [children] as we can, and I’m sure the other places are trying to do the same.”

Autism House is a therapy center for children ages 2-12 located in Magnolia that was founded by Cordova in 2011. The facility provides one-on-one Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, which works on skills individuals with autism need to learn before they are able to attend regular school.

“Kids with autism tend to have social deficits, and a lot of times they have behavior problems and they don’t understand how to communicate,”  Cordova said. “So we teach all of those things—things that come naturally to a kid without autism.”

The facility can accommodate up to 25 children and has a waiting list. Cordova is in the process of adding space for 15-20 children by renovating the garage of the refurbished house Autism House relocated to at the beginning of the year.

“Now that people are more aware, we can get kids diagnosed sooner and get them in to see us at younger ages, and what we’ve seen is that early intervention is really the key,” Cordova said. “A lot of the [earlier-diagnosed children] are able to go to regular pre-school or kindergarten, and that’s really our goal. We don’t want them to be here forever; we want them to transition and go on to be the most successful versions of themselves that they can be.”

The Learning Lane, similar to Autism House, is a clinic that also provides ABA therapy in a classroom setting for children ages 1-7. The facility first opened in The Woodlands in 2007 and provides inclusion and shadowing services as well, which aid in the transition process between therapy and school.

“I think we do a nice job of slowly integrating kids into regular classes with lots of support and then trying to pull back as much support as we can so that they can do it on their own,” Program Director Stephanie Hulshof said. “I don’t know that there’s many places around here that do that.”

The Learning Lane also provides training for parents so that children with autism can continue working on skills at home.

Autism age gap

The owners, who also own The Woodlands Young Learners Academy and Linder Young Learners Academy, are planning to open a new location in Oak Ridge North in early 2017. The new facility will serve not only as an additional preschool but will also host the main operations of the clinic, allowing for inclusion and shadowing services to take place in one location.

“We’ve been trying to figure out how to expand services to older kids because there’s a deficit with the kids once they get out of the 7- to 8-year-old range,” The Learning Lane co-owner Ed Zeigler said. “So we’re looking at expanding our services to older kids, and we encourage more and different opportunities for other services for autistic kids to come to the area because our program doesn’t meet the needs of everyone.”

Three years ago, Emrich along with Cathy Bleakly, a fellow mother to a child with autism, founded AutismShare—a local support group for families with autistic children. The organization—made up of 300 registered members—hosts awareness events, caregiver training sessions, summer camp for children with autism and bi-monthly support meetings.

The group is hoping to open a new facility for individuals with autism called Club Autism in an effort to expand resources to adults with autism.

“All autistic individuals can come to join fitness sessions, social skills activities, job training, home-school groups and more,” Emrich said. “We even hope to build dormitories in the future for them to live in the same place.”

Through continued education and awareness, Emrich said she hopes a community full of opportunity will be in her son’s future.

“Autistic children become adults, and they are still affected by autism,” Emrich said. “My child will be an adult one day, and I want to make sure that he will not be forgotten. Nothing comes easy when you have an autistic child. It is exhausting and lonely, but the reward is sweeter.”