Utah Autism & ADHD Services

0-6 Years Old

Why Early Intervention Is Important

During the early years of life, especially from birth to age 6, the brain undergoes rapid and extensive development. This is why you’ll always hear that Early Intervention is so important in a child’s life.

If you have concerns about your child’s development, whether or not your child has a diagnosis, it’s important to offer extra supports to your child for the best outcomes.

Primary Concerns

If you have any of the following concerns, there are ways to help.

My child has a difficult time calming down, even with help
My child has a difficult time with transitions
My child gets upset often, and sometimes it’s difficult to know why
My child doesn’t sustain attention for very long
It is difficult to engage my child in play
My child’s play is repetitive
My child isn’t communicating at age level
My child isn’t imitating yet
It is difficult to get more than a few back and forth interactions with my child
My child isn’t interested in playing with other kids
My child doesn’t seem to understand emotions yet
My child does not participate in pretend play yet
My child has a difficult time making and keeping friends
My child doesn’t follow directions
Taking turns and sharing is hard

Individualized Approach

You’ll find that there are different approaches to helping a child with autism, ADHD, and developmental delays. Although I have been trained in behavioral approaches, I prefer a developmental and relationship-based approach to helping kids with their developmental progress.

With in-person sessions, we are able to create an individualized plan to help your child progress by identifying where your child is developmentally, and what their sensory-motor preferences are. Through our sessions, I am able to teach and train you (the parents) how to implement simple techniques throughout the day to help your child progress and grow.

I believe that a child’s time in the home, with family, is so important, which is why I love working with families. With our sessions, you will learn about child development, how to target developmental skills such as attention, engagement, communication, play skills, motor skills, social skills, problem solving skills, and emotional regulation.

You’ll also learn how behavior is connected to brain development, and how to best support your child through the good and the difficult times.

Limited Spots Available, Send A Message For More Info

You may also send an e-mail to joy@playwithjoy.com or call 801-930-0390

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7-11 Years Old

Autism And ADHD

As children grow older, they are faced with new challenges. Kids with autism and/or ADHD may need extra supports to help gain the skills they need to be able to continue to progress and grow. Some areas of development that may be of concern may include:

Attention and Focus
Social Skills
Emotional Regulation
Executive Function Skills
Problem Solving
Sensory Processing

What are Executive Functioning Skills

Executive skills begin to develop at a very young age and are needed throughout adulthood. Executive skills play a crucial role in your child’s ability to focus, plan, organize, and regulate their behavior. Executive Functioning Skills include the following:

Response Inhibition
Working Memory
Emotional Control
Sustained Attention
Task initiation
Planning
Organization
Time management
Goal-directed persistence
Flexibility
Metacognition

Individualized Approach

Every child deserves an individualized approach that will meet their specific needs, strengths and interests. Sessions

Sessions are adapted to each child’s unique include engaging activities based on the child’s Lessons are taught through engaging activities including games, movement, and special interests. Together with you and your child we can make a plan that will best support your child’s unique needs.

Limited Spots Available, Send A Message For More Info

You may also send an e-mail to joy@playwithjoy.com or call 801-930-0390

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10-18 Years Old

Brain health is vital to success in every aspect of our lives. Stronger Brains is an online brain training program for kids 10-18 years old. Play With Joy is an official provider of Stronger Brains. For more information about Stronger Brains, click here.

Limited Spots Available, Send A Message For More Info

You may also send an e-mail to joy@playwithjoy.com or call 801-930-0390

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What Parents and Professionals Are Saying...

Joy is amazing. She taught me that I am my child’s best advocate and to follow my instincts in getting my child the help needed. Early intervention was a crucial factor for our family, and the skills that Joy taught the entire family made such a difference in helping us know how to continually use play based therapy at home. I highly recommend her to anyone who is concerned about the development of their child. We still have a relationship with her years later. She truly cares about each and every child.

Thank you Joy for helping us understand the basics of how to interact more effectively with our child, to help him learn. Working with you gave us a set of base skills that has provided incredible benefits for us, and especially for him. If we were to start over, we would still do Play With Joy, but would start earlier.

If you are looking for a professional to help you with your child who may be struggling with social skills, behavior, learning, playing with others, or executive functioning, you want Joy on your team. I have worked with Joy professionally since 2007. She really is an amazing educator! Joy has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of psychology, education, behavior, and overall child development.

I first met Joy 10 years ago at a Play Therapy Conference. Shortly after, we began therapy sessions with my 2nd son who was about 3 years old at the time. Joy has the ability to connect with young children on the spectrum that is unmatched in my experience. Joy taught us how to enter my son's world and connect with him. I highly recommend her services.

Joy is a fantastic teacher that cares for all children but is super great with children that exhibit behaviors of ASD. She taught me strategies to work with all children to increase time on task behaviors as well as to increase their abilities to communicate wants and needs. She is great!!

My daughter always looks forward to working with Joy. Joy was able to zero in on exactly what executive skills she needed to work on and it has helped alleviate some of my daughter's anxiety. Joy is fabulous!

Joy is hands down one of THE best teachers I have ever worked with in 17 years of speech and language therapy in the schools. She has "the magic touch", so to speak, when it comes to connecting with children with Autism and helping them connect and engage with their families and the world around them. Her play-based approach to intervention is so much fun and it WORKS!