Touro’s Pierce Autism Center looks to turn struggles into success for its clients

Christopher Wilson frolics happily around a large room within Touro University Nevada’s campus at 874 American Pacific Drive in Henderson.

In the room surrounded by walls decorated to look like a park, the 6-year-old darts over multicolored wrestling mats going from the ball pit toward the back center, to the small jungle gym in one corner and the large circular swing in another.

His father, Sean Wilson, looks on happily in a black shirt with a skull in the middle — a matching pair with his son that pays homage to an antagonist in “Toy Story,” Christopher’s favorite movie.

It’s been three months since Christopher, who is diagnosed on the autism spectrum and nonverbal, has been receiving therapy at Touro’s Sharon Sigesmund Pierce and Stephen Pierce Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities — or the Pierce Autism Center, for short.

After yearslong battles trying to get treatment for his adopted son in a city with limited options, Sean Wilson — as well as experts at the university — say Christopher’s development has soared to new heights.

“Once we got started, awesome,” Sean Wilson said about the therapy treatment his son has received at the Pierce Autism Center. “I’ll take what I can get, (and) he loves it; he loves coming in here.”

Christopher was born in 2017 with multiple medical issues, including a lip and tongue tie, where a band of tissue had tethered his tongue tip to the floor of his mouth, and possible blindness. His father, who had never had children before adopting Christopher, said the young boy was growing like any child would — learning about 50-100 words and eating regular foods — until “all of a sudden, it just turned off.”

Born two years later from the same parent, younger sister Alice came into the picture, and her development emphasized the differences in the siblings’ behaviors. Other family members also pointed out Christopher’s behaviors to Sean Wilson. Testing results confirmed Christoper had autism as well as a chromosomal deficiency that may have contributed to the autism, Sean Wilson said.

Autism spectrum disorder is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges.” It can present itself in people of any age, and while it can be caused by genetic differences in the brain, scientists believe there could be multiple causes of ASD — some that are still unknown, the CDC said.

People with ASD often develop it before the age of 3 and it can last a lifetime, manifesting in symptoms that can include avoiding eye contact; babies not responding to their name by the time they’re 9 months old; delayed language, movement or cognitive skills; unusual reactions to sounds, smells, tastes, looks or feels; and a need to follow certain routines — also classified as repetitive or restricted behaviors, according to the CDC.

In a news release published last spring, the CDC reported that more children have been diagnosed with autism in recent years than previously. Eleven communities in the organization’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which researches ASD, found that 1 in every 36 8- and 4-year-old children was diagnosed with autism in 2020 — the latest year they had data. It was an increase from 2018, which found a prevalence of 1 in 44 children diagnosed with ASD.

In Nevada, 120,000 children live with autism or other developmental disabilities, according to the Pierce Autism Center. Boys are also four times as likely to be diagnosed as girls.

Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disorder, according to the National Autism Association, and can be treated through programs that “seek to reduce symptoms that interfere with daily functioning and quality of life.”

The Pierce Autism Center was established at Touro University in late-2007 in a time when few affordable centers existed for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum to receive therapy services. Services with licensed therapists, as well as practicing Touro University students, are offered for children spanning 18 months up to 12 years old.

“Therapy is fun here,” said Jennifer McConnell, a board-certified behavior analyst at the Pierce Autism Center. “We’re here to help (the kids); it’s not a punishment that they have a disability, so we wanna make it, if anything, like this is a privilege to come to therapy. If you were to watch our therapies, you shouldn’t really know that we’re doing therapy.”

At its creation, the Pierce Autism Center was a pioneer in accepting health insurance, which cut the cost of many resources it offered. Because these treatments can require multiple sessions, costs can become pricey with a lack of insurance. Clients currently pay an average of $168 an hour for services, officials said, but in addition to private insurance, Medicaid also is accepted. No clients are excluded because of inability to pay.

The Touro centers specialize in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, which is designed to encourage preferred behaviors while discouraging the undesired ones. McConnell explained that they work on three different areas when using ABA: behaviors, communication and social skills. Each patient’s session is different and could last hours due to the individualized treatment plans, she continued.

Because Christopher’s autism was diagnosed at a young age, Sean Wilson began getting the young boy into therapy programs through the Clark County School District’s Child Find department to help with his development.Sean Wilson soon learned that demand for the services well surpassed availability. Christopher has been on one facility’s waitlist for services for nearly four years. He was on the Pierce Autism Center’s waitlist for two years before he could be seen there.

The Pierce Autism Center currently is working with 31 clients who receive services. Officials said the waitlist, at this point, is empty.

One of Christopher’s sessions last week included practicing the sign for “more” — pinching his four fingers and thumb together on each hand and tapping his fingertips together — and practicing how to tell certain items apart, otherwise known as imitation discrimination.

They’re “building blocks” that will eventually allow Christopher to segue into learning social skills, McConnell noted.

Treatment at the Pierce Autism Center can take many shapes. Some methods involve getting the younger children to interact and play with each other, while older kids might take lessons in cooking, cleaning or even how to make a friend.

While Christopher isn’t ready to work on his social skills just yet, McConnell said, the functional communication treatment that they’ve started with has already led to quick change because he hasn’t had a lot of prior therapies. It usually takes a long time to see some of the changes that Christopher has displayed in months, she added.

“Just looking at Chris’ medical history and everything he has, it’s such a miraculous story — not only that he’s alive, but everything he’s doing,” McConnell said. “And his potential, really, it’s going to be amazing to watch and see what he can do once we start building the skills.”

Right now, Christopher attends school five days a week, then takes a bus to Touro to receive therapy four times a week. Sean Wilson, who said Christopher loved his therapy sessions, has noticed his son suddenly picks up on things he hadn’t previously, is calmer in certain situations and is interacting better with people.

Between the “great” therapists at the Pierce Autism Center and teachers at CCSD, Sean Wilson believes the struggle to find Christopher treatment was worth it. He’s not sure how long his son will stay at the Pierce Autism Center, but they’ll keep at it “as long as it’s gonna help him … however long it takes him.”

“It’s just, he sees the world differently,” Sean Wilson said of his son. “I wouldn’t change anything that I went through. I would do it all over again for these guys.”