Autism Spectrum Disorder & JASPER Therapy
LKS & Associates specializes in Autism Spectrum Disorder and is the first speech-language clinic in the world to have fidelity in JASPER (joint attention, symbolic play, engagement, regulation) treatment. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. Those with ASD often repeat certain behaviors and are unwilling to change their daily activities. People with ASD have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to situations.
developed by the 
Developed by Dr. Connie Kasari at UCLA, Jasper is a treatment approach based on a combination of developmental and behavioral principles.
JA
Joint Attention
Joint attention (JA) is the coordination of attention between objects and people for the purpose of sharing. Our studies show that children with ASD use more JA when these skills are modeled and taught directly.
SP
Symbolic Play
We model appropriate play, facilitate joint attention within play routines, and encourage greater diversity in types of play with the goal of helping children increase their diversity, flexibility, and level of play.
E
Engagement
Increases in engagement are critical because they lead to more opportunities for social communication and learning. For this reason, we aim to help children with ASD reach higher states of joint engagement with others.
R
Regulation
Our approach stresses the importance of emotion and behavior regulation. We offer a number of strategies to address a lack of engagement, self-stimulatory behaviors, and regulation challenges in children with ASD.