(Future Home)

On April 22, 2008 the Autism Treatment Center announced its Autism Initiative for San Antonio. The Initiative will focus on expanding ATC’s services to meet the ever-growing need for Autism services in San Antonio, and will work toward creating a more thorough awareness of autism in the San Antonio community. To accomplish this goal, ATC will build two facilities, breaking ground in 2008 on Phase I. The Autism Treatment Center Rehabilitation Agency will provide a venue for comprehensive diagnosis, assessment and therapy for children with autism and is due to open June 2009.

Phase I is approximately a 6,000 square foot building, housing diagnostic and therapy services as well as an expansive sensory lab which will be used for intensive speech, occupational and behavioral therapy, allowing ATC to triple the amount of individuals it currently serves. The therapy rooms will also be used for diagnostics and assessment, allowing ATC to begin offering outpatient services in an effort to meet the vast needs of the San Antonio community. These rooms will be wired with video cameras that will send a live feed to a comfortable and private viewing room where parents will be able to tune in wirelessly to view, in real time, the diagnosis and assessment of their child.

The building will also include a virtual simulation lab, incorporating the most recent technology offered for the treatment of autism. Alonzo Andrews, Director of ATC in San Antonio, has long been a champion for these types of technologies, and believes they are the future of autism services. It will accommodate tele-diagnostic procedures developed in collaboration with the University of Texas- Pan American and the University of Texas in Austin since 2001. Additionally, extrapolating from research in computer-assisted training with UT, the building will include a virtual simulation area for adaptive behavior training. The clinical environment has been designed to accommodate the perspective of children with autism, structuring space and time to support treatment.

Phase II will house our Learning Center for children, Employment Training and Opportunities for adults, Research collaborations with Universities and our administration offices scheduled for completion in 2011.  In the space behind these two buildings, ATC has planned for a playground and pathways designated for therapy, play and relaxation.

Connecting Phase I and Phase II there will be a meditation garden where patients, parents, and staff can relax and get away from the everyday stresses that are brought on by dealing with this condition. Both buildings will be built keeping in mind the fact that individuals with autism often have heightened sensory perception, making them hypersensitive to lights, sounds, and textures. The materials that will be used are environmentally safe and considerate of individuals with chemical sensitivities. It will utilize natural light as much as possible, decreasing artificial light which tends to be loud and disruptive to people with audio and visual sensitivities. Textured walls and floors will communicate flow and movement throughout the building which is conducive to some individuals’ tactile senses.