Centria Autism Brings Therapeutic Services to Atlanta

Centria Autism (Centria), a leading national provider of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, recently opened its first Life Skills Autism Academy (LSAA) center in Atlanta and its first location in Georgia.

According to the CDC, 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with autism, highlighting a growing need for quality behavioral therapy at all levels. Centria continues its commitment to supporting individuals on the autism spectrum with new locations planned for Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia, joining the list of locations already open in Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, and Texas.

Centria emphasizes early intervention with its LSAA centers, providing highly intensive and specialized ABA therapy for children with autism. The center, which specializes in treating clients five years of age and younger, is accepting new clients.

Centria Centers offer individualized treatment plans developed by a team of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and Behavior Technicians, prioritizing the development of everyday skills and social behaviors that will enable children with autism to thrive at school, at home and in their community.

The facility’s larger footprint allows clinicians to accommodate up to 76 clients at a time.

The 16,245-square-foot center in southwest Atlanta opened at 1640 Phoenix Blvd. on June 5, serving as a temporary space while a permanent location is identified and built later.

“As we open the doors to our first location in Atlanta, this new center marks a continuation of our ongoing commitment to serving clients and their families in this community,” said Timothy Yeager, clinical director at Centria Autism. “Expanding our services in Atlanta to include both in-home and center-based services will allow us to provide therapeutic services to children in the environment that best suits their individual needs.”

Director of Clinical Services Halee Royal said the temporary site is fully open and has seven active clients and a growing waitlist of 17 more children. Royal also said they hope to reach their permanent location before reaching more clients.

“Our permanent location is about a mile from here on Godbey, so not too far, still in the same neighborhood, which was exactly their goal. They’re completely renovating that location,” she said.

From Royal’s understanding, the permanent location is a stand-alone building and Centria has a model that they built for the Life Skills, Autism Academy sites, and will be set up like all the other model sites they have.

“We hope that this time frame will be six to nine months after this permanent full-time site opens,” she said.

Additionally, Royal said Centria chose Atlanta because it is an “incredibly underserved area in south Atlanta.”

“If you look at a map of Atlanta and you take I-20 South, you’ll see that the city has always been incredibly underserved,” she said. “I’m originally from Atlanta and I grew up here on the South Side, so I know firsthand that we need services here. And there’s not enough here.”

Royal said she was encouraged to find out that Centria was actively looking for locations in underserved communities. Atlanta, Royal said, is a growing community and more people need more children to help.

“This area has needed this for a very long time, so I hope we open even more locations in South Atlanta,” she said.

According to Royal, Life Skills offers an early intensive behavioral intervention program for children ages two to six, all using ABA therapy, considered the gold standard.

“Assessing children with a focus on the aspirations of their parents and caregivers, whether that’s short-term or long-term,” she said. “We want to focus everything we do on those aspirations of the clients.”

The company then develops a treatment program taking into account the aspirations of these clients and its goal for this age group is to get them to a point where they can go to school, whatever schooling that looks like.

Whether it is public education that does not require additional support, public education that requires additional support through special education services, or even private education.

Royal also said they have many important goals for the year, including making a difference in every child’s life, no matter how many children walk through the door, and making positive changes for families.

“I talk to parents every day, and some come with little hope,” she said. “Some come with a lot of hope, and some don’t know what to expect, but just know they need help, and that’s our job.”

For more information, visit https://www.centriahealthcare.com.

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