Mollie and H.

Mollie and her husband have two kids, a neurotypical daughter and a son who is on the autism spectrum. But, like many parents, it took them a long time to understand that their son had autism, and how to get him the support he needed.

When her son, H., was about five or six years old, he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. “I didn't know anything about Asperger's. I just thought it meant quirky and the psychologist said there wasn't much that she could do for him other than work on his depression and anxiety,” Mollie said. “There was no help or direction with social skills or anything like that.”

Mollie’s son managed to do well throughout elementary school and middle school but by ninth grade, they were seeing issues flare up with his executive functioning and social skills. “We took him to have a whole battery of tests done, and it was then that they diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder.”

Finding their way to ABA therapy

H. tried several types of therapists who said there was really nothing that they could do for him. He himself found the therapy to be a waste of time. “It was very frustrating because we knew he needed some help even though he didn't realize it.”

Then, the Autism Society of Central Virginia recommended AnswersNow, a virtual ABA therapy company that Mollie’s family had also heard about in their community. Within a few days of Mollie reaching out to AnswersNow, they were matched with Lori, H.’s dedicated BCBA or Board Certified Behavior Analyst. 

“There wasn't a six-month waiting list or anything like that, which is pretty typical - it's hard to get into a therapist. So that was a big advantage.” 

Skills-focused, collaborative care

Lori and H. met once a week, and developed a strong rapport. 

AnswersNow takes great care to match their families with a dedicated BCBA, a PhD or Master’s-level therapist, that closely aligns with a learner’s needs and goals.

My son had seen a lot of other psychologists that he just did not click with. This was really the first time that he stuck with the therapy and he would say that he could see some benefit from it.

What Mollie thought was so unique about the AnswersNow approach was the collaborative way their clinical team discussed his treatment plan and goals, and how everything was very skills-focused. “They were talking with him about what he wanted to work on, and kind of went down this checklist of where are you now and where do you want to be?”

Overseas therapy

Mollie and her husband did not think H. was ready to be successful in a college setting, so they recommended that he take a gap year. H., who has a passion for languages, decided to move overseas to participate in a language immersion program. 

While an in-person or in-clinic therapy experience would have been disrupted by a year abroad, H.’s virtual therapy sessions with Lori were not. 

“The great thing was he was able to keep up with his Lori because it was all done over the Internet, so he was still connecting with her once a week even though he was out of the country.” 

When H. first arrived overseas, Mollie said she and her husband would receive a lot of text messages from him asking for help or direction around daily tasks like going out to eat. “He would be sitting at the restaurant and we would get a text. ‘Okay, I'm finished eating. What do I do?’ We would have to walk him through how to pay a bill at the restaurant.”

By the time H. had been there a few months, it was a totally different story. And Mollie and her husband believe that was in large part due to his consistent therapy and skill-building with Lori.

He was actually booking himself train tickets and flights, and booking himself into youth hostels because he wanted to travel to other cities. And it was pretty amazing that growth that we saw in him in executive functioning over that year.

Looking ahead

When reflecting on how H.’s growth in his functional skills has impacted them as his caregivers, Mollie talked about H.’s future.

“It gives us much more confidence that he's going to have these life skills that eventually he can live on his own and hopefully find productive employment and be completely self-sufficient.”