A comprehensive intervention is required for a person who does not meet the milestones of their age in many areas.

In the assessment, we look for deficits and behaviors in excess. The more deficits and excessive behaviors we see in someone, the more we have to work on building skills and reducing the frequency of the undesirable behaviors.  

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I will give some random examples but I have to mention that every case is particular and does not meet all of what is listed below:

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Deficits, lacks - Here, we observe a spectrum ranging from minimal development to a complete absence of: 

their own language,

understanding of what adults around them speak,

joint attention,

attention and listening,

imitation,

visual contact,

motivation to play,

functional play - knows how to use the toys,

how much time they engages with toys,

diversification of toys, accepting new toys

imaginary play,

motivation to interact with same age siblings/peers - role play, initiation of the interaction, response 

generalization of the things learned

tolerance to waiting, to play with toys that involve a trick that first you have to understand:

 

For example, trying to fit a triangle into a square hole in a shape sorter involves repeatedly attempting to place the piece, and if it doesn’t fit, moving on to the next hole. This process continues until reaching the triangle-shaped hole, where the piece must be aligned correctly using the right angle to fit properly. If a child begins to cry at any step or tries to avoid the toy altogether, it suggests they lack tolerance for the process and are not demonstrating curiosity.

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Behaviors in excess - here we can see behaviors performed with a high frequency in a short span of time or over one day:

crying, whining,

echolalia,

repetitive behaviors involving their own body parts - flapping hands/ribbons/long objects in front of the eyes

repetitive behaviors involving objects - opening and closing drawers, doors, pressing buttons

rigidity for nonfunctional activities,

non collaboration/ oppositionist,

self harming behaviors,

aggressions toward others,

obsessive-compulsive behaviors,

food rigidity.

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​​​​​​There’s a clear connection between the scope of an intervention and the number of therapy hours needed. When multiple areas of a child’s or adolescent’s development are affected, they typically require more hours of therapy to make meaningful progress toward their specific goals.