About our speech-language pathology services

Individualized communication therapy for children and adults

with ASD and other social communication challenges

Communication Therapy

We offer a cognitive behavioral approach to pragmatic language therapy for children and adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder or social language impairment. Focus is placed on understanding situational social expectations and the thoughts and feelings of others and ourselves. Clients are taught to consider the consequences of their words and actions to match their social intent and build positive relationships.

The primary goal of treatment is to help individuals maximize their potential by developing effective communication, self regulation, and social skills.

An important part of our philosophy is that an ASD diagnosis is an explanation, but it is not a crutch. We respect neurodiversity in all forms and strongly prioritize individualized client and familial goals.

ASD Parent Training Programs

Parents play an essential role in helping their child with autism spectrum disorder develop critical communication and social skills. Amy Fritz-Ocock believes that while she is an expert in communication, parents are the experts on their child. This is why she is committed to offering programs that increase parent understanding of social communication, so they may confidently work together for the child’s benefit. Dr. Amy is certified by The Hanen Centre in two programs to train parents of young children with high-functioning ASD to do just that.

More Than Words® – The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Social Communication Difficulties: This program is for parents of children 7 and under with ASD. It gives you the tools to foster your child’s social communication, play, and imitation skills. More Than Words consists of a pre-program consultation for you and your child, eight personalized small-group training sessions, and three recorded interaction sessions for you and your child with coaching from Dr. Amy.

TalkAbility™ – The Hanen Program® for Parents of Verbal Children on the Autism Spectrum: This program is for parents of children age 4 to 7 with high-functioning ASD. It equips you to help your child have conversations, talk about things of interest to others, play with kids their own age, and smoothly alter routines. TalkAbility consists of a pre-program consultation for you and your child, personalized small-group classes, recorded interaction sessions for you and your child with coaching from Dr. Amy, and recorded interaction sessions of your child playing with another child with feedback from Dr. Amy.

Social Skills Groups

As an expert in social communication, Dr. Amy develops customized social skills groups by pulling from several research-validated resources, including Social Thinking, Beyond Social Skills, and The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS). Groups are continually forming to ensure the matching of appropriate clients. Pre-program consultations are required for enrollment.

Consultation & Educational Advocacy

As a parent of a child with ASD and professional with two decades of experience, Amy Fritz-Ocock has unique knowledge, skills, and connections within the Central Florida ASD community. Dr. Amy offers phone consultation services for individuals and families, balanced educational advocacy support, corporate education and training and contract consultation services.