• Residential Services
• Group Homes
• Special Education - Schools for Residential and Day Students
• CARES School - Center for Autism Resources and Education Services
• Diagnostic Services
• Become a Foster Parent
• Therapeutic/Intensive Foster Care
• STARR (Short Term Assessment and Rapid Reintegration) Program
• Adult Services
• Become an Adult Shared Living Provider

Programs for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Devereux offers programs for youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that incorporate various living arrangements, including on-campus units and group homes in Massachusetts. The goal of our programs is to help youth improve in the following areas:

• Increase ability to initiate and maintain positive social relationships
• Enhance functional living abilities to support greater self-sufficiency
• Replace challenging behaviors with effective prosocial strategies
• Decrease chronic feelings of anxiety and improve sensory processing
• Enhance academic performance and develop vocational competencies

Population Served

Males, ages 10 to 17, who face challenges in the areas of social communication, social cognition and self-regulation.

These youth typically exhibit primary difficulties consistent with:

• Asperger’s syndrome
• High-functioning autism
• Pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified
• Nonverbal learning disability

In addition, these youth often carry secondary diagnoses including:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• Oppositional defiant disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Major depressive disorder

Treatment Philosophy

The foundation of our treatment is Positive Behavior Support. Multi-disciplinary teams conduct a thorough assessment of each child’s abilities to create individualized behavior support plans based on the child’s strengths and needs. These plans are designed to improve self-efficacy with a systematic focus on social pragmatic skills.

By integrating applied behavior analytic methods with a relational approach, Devereux offers youth and their families a cohesive, supportive and evidence-based model of treatment. In addition to core approaches, a full range of services are provided for optimum care:

• Functional assessment of behavior
• 24/7 focus on social skills development
• Functional living skills development
• Speech and language therapy
• Family support group and aftercare planning
• Occupational therapy (fine/gross motor skills)
• Creation of a “sensory profile” of each youth
• Regular therapeutic recreation
• Expressive arts
• Animal care therapy
• Adventure-based counseling
• Vocational training