The broad goal of the Ashton’s Place Therapy Centre is to offer autistic children evidence-based interventions suitable to building their personal independence and functional skills.

Therapists have a particular focus on developing and implementing child-focused therapy procedures that build the skills and assets autistic children need, to be active participants in age-relevant community settings and to benefit from the inclusive experiences they are exposed to. It is important that skill- and asset-building therapies lead to long-term benefits for children so that their need for additional support gradually decreases over time.

Therapy is delivered by a team of Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Positive Behaviour Support Practitioners, Special Needs Teachers, and Therapy Assistants with suitable academic qualifications and membership to the registration bodies relevant to their field of professional practice. Importantly, therapists are experienced in working with autistic children and their families and, due to this, have expertise in offering specialised treatments and interventions.

In line with best-practice recommendations, therapists work in different contexts (depending on individual children’s support needs and the NDIS goals they are working towards achieving). This involves therapists in not only working with children using a traditional one-to-one treatment model to build skills, but also in visiting other contexts such as their home or early education setting, where those skills are necessary to help the child become independent. The idea of visiting other contexts is important because it helps children generalise ‘what is learned in therapy’ to other places and with other people to help them feel more confident and self-reliant.