Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Resources for children with autism are becoming more widely available in the Lehigh Valley.

But parents often have to wait months before getting into a program.

A local organization aims to combat that.

We've cut close to.

But we really go with the kids who, when Logan and Alexis Searcher had their second child, they realized their first borns behavior had changed.

When you don't have your son responding to you at all to name whatsoever, it's deadening.

It doesn't feel good.

That you may, as couples started to realize something, might be off with their energetic Elijah.

Roughly around a year and a half, we've noticed the words that he started to accumulate.

We started seeing that a regression where suddenly he just stopped saying these words and he started making noises.

He's sorry to not make eye contact with us as much.

And we're like, okay, something's wrong.

The researcher sprang into action but had a hard time finding services for their son.

It wasn't looking at us and he wasn't responding to us.

And it's just like, okay, maybe we should start looking into treatment or diagnosis or wherever we start.

And that was a six month long process.

After months of paperwork and phone calls, a diagnosis helped get the two and a half year old the resources he needed.

The researchers found helping Hands family in Center Valley.

Now it's honestly godsend.

My husband went through a couple lists of different places like I did here.

Just because of how much they focused on the child and addressing autism.

He seemed to love it instantly.

I mean, our main goal is to provide quality services to children and families who are diagnosed with autism.

Jessica McGlone is the director of Quality and Education at Helping Hand Family.

She says they just marked two years of assisting those children and their families.

And helping hands.

We provide a therapy which stands for Applied Behavior Analysis.

It is research backed treatment for autism, and we spend a lot of time focusing on things like play skills, cooperation, skills, as well as more advanced language, functional communication skills, and really working on getting primarily our toddler and preschool age population ready to be successful in school.

The organization serves children from birth to 21 years old, but focuses mainly on preschool aged children for early intervention.

Autism is on the rise.

As many people know, there are one in 36 children estimated to have autism in the United States right now.

So when families come to us, they will need a diagnosis if they don't have one.

We're always happy to help them figure out a diagnostician, a way to get that acquired.

And then we move from there and provide services.

Elijah comes twice a week to the location on the second floor of the Goddard School at the business park next to the Promenade shops in Upper Saucon Township.

He works closely with his registered behavior technician or rb t Abby cometo.

Find tasks including helping them learn, helping them with their social skills, helping them just be more independent.

Cometo says although Elijah is non-verbal, she's seen a significant difference over the last 12 months.

In the world of autism.

It's really hard for them to communicate if they're nonverbal or if they are starting to be verbal.

It's hard for them to exhibit those skills when it's so easy for us, but takes a lot of effort for them.

So it's really cool to hear.

Since coming here, just like the past couple of weeks, me, my husband have noticed he's starting to be more responsive.

I'm like, Hey, Elijah, come here.

He smiles, giggles a little bit, comes over.

I would ask for a kiss and he'll give me his cheek to give him a kiss.

The researchers say Elijah's therapy has helped him interact with them and his two younger siblings, but they would like to see more covered by insurance to help children like their son improve over time.

ABA services are paid for by insurance or secondary insurance.

However, occupational therapy is not always covered.

It's called autistic spectrum disorder.

And I think that means the treatment is probably on the spectrum, too.

Unless we can actually get the root of it, and from my understanding, we cannot.

And behavioral therapy does address and you have to get imaginative with ABA therapy with every child.

They're all different.

And if that's the case, I would say the treatment's probably on the spectrum, too.

The researchers say the more their son receives ABA and occupational therapy, the more they see their sweet four year old come out of his shell.

There's actually a former communications now because of the people here helping him one on one, helping hands.

Family has clinics in four states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland.

They have the most locations in Pennsylvania and are the largest ABA therapy provider in the states.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.