DENVER — When 3-year-old Bubba first started working with a therapist at Firefly Autism, he was completely nonverbal.
But now, his grandmother Nicole Taylor said he not only speaks, but has learned his letters, numbers and colors.
"He also knows how to greet folks and say goodbye," Taylor said. "He’s just a whole different boy."
Bubba has autism, a complex developmental disability, and has been working with his therapist Amanda Bravo at Firefly since September. Signs of autism typically appear during early childhood and affect a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others, according to the Autism Society.
April is National Autism Awareness Month and is meant to draw attention to the neurological cognitive disorder and its treatments.
Firefly Autism is a Denver-based autism treatment center. Taylor said Bubba's breakthroughs there have been unforgettable.
“We were watching Monsters Inc. the other day, and the opening credits were coming on and the doors were coming across the screen, and he was telling me, 'Door,' and then would say the color," Taylor said. "Then he looked at me with this inquisitive look and he points to the front door and he goes, 'Door.' That was just amazing. ... He gets it and he wants me to know that he gets it.
9NEWS caught up with Firefly Autism Executive Director Jesse Ogas to learn more about the center and its programs, as well as autism and available treatments.
(Editor's note: Responses have been edited for context and clarity.)
9NEWS: What is Firefly Autism?
Ogas: Firefly is an educational clinic established in 2003 that has worked with over 10,000 children. It’s both a center and a home-based program that helps those with autism and their family members understand the disorder and manage it through studies and research.
There is an early childhood program that works with babies from 16 months to 6 years old, a school-age program that works with kid ages 7 to 12 and teenagers ages 13 to 18, and a young adult program for those between the ages of 18 and 21.
There is also Social Skills Group, a program that happens after school or on the weekends. It is for kids that don’t necessarily come to Firefly, but that have their homeschools and they’re just socially a little awkward and need some additional support.
What is the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program used at Firefly?
Ogas: It’s called Applied Behavioral Analysis and provides therapy using a one-on-one model.
The therapist has an iPad, and every five minutes, they are tracking the child’s behavior. At the end of that day, all of that data goes into an app that we have created, and it graphs the behavior of the child, so we can literally pinpoint what was going on with that child that day.
The center wants to be able to look at the child’s activity throughout the day and if he or she were to have an episode, they would be able to see exactly what triggered that episode.
Every child has an Individual Educational Program (IEP), so we can monitor a child’s progress from day to day, week to week and month to month. Our goal is to get them in and to get them back out to their home school.
What about after the program?
Ogas: Those with Firefly say they have had kids come into the program in second grade who have transitioned into regular schools and have gone on to have success.
The progress that we have seen is tremendous, to the point that we are working with partners like Walmart. We have children in 2003 that have gone on to be successful — that are no longer classified as having autism. Every day we see something amazing happen.
Is it tough to get into the program?
Ogas: Right now, there are 165 babies on a waiting list for the program due to a lack of space. The center is expanding and moving into a larger facility in the near future.
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