For parents who have children with autism, communicating with them can be one of the hardest things to do. One group is helping students break their silence with a unique therapy. It's called applied behavioral analysis, or ABA, and it's designed to give autistic children a way to communicate.

Which, once students master it, can open the doors to a whole new world.

For 10-year-old Matthew Collins, just recognizing a familiar object is deserving enough for a reward. It's a skill we take for granted, but for children with autism, learning to communicate with others can unlock a whole new meaning of understanding.

Behavior analyst Lenell Kelley knows how to reach Matthew by using ABA, a board-certified therapy.

"With ABA, you can take certain skills, break them down in to very small pieces and teach them the smaller pieces to develop that entire skill," she said. "Autistic children are able to learn better, and respond better when they are able to break things into smaller pieces."

To find out what skills a child like Matthew may need to develop, Lenell compiles a comprehensive assessment, gauging everything from language delays (how, if at all, the child can communicate) to social skills (how that child interacts with others).

The results allow her to tailor a curriculum to that child, which she teaches on a one-on-one basis.

"It's individualized," she said. "It's not a cookie-cutter curriculum. It's designed to fit that child."

The Matthew Reardon Center is the only school-based ABA service provider in Savannah, and the therapy is the only research-based treatment that has been proven effective in treating children with autism.

Students go through therapy between 24 to 40 hours a week, all year long. Matthew's mom, Beth, has seen drastic changes in him since he started his ABA therapy two years ago.

"Any time Matthew gets to a more advanced place, we feel great, because we feel like there's a lot of potential locked in there," she said.

ABA therapy is not a state-funded program, so it can be expensive, between $15,000 and $30,000. But both therapists and parents say the program has been worth the cost.

Reported by: Melanie Ruberti, mruberti@wtoc.com