Testimonials

November 18, 2019

After my son was diagnosed in 2002, I wrote a grant proposal for the first intensive home program for children with ASD in our area. In cooperation with various agencies and service professionals, we developed a 40-hour per week program that would become a standard of care, and my son, who was three years old at the time, was the first child to receive those services. 

In 2006, we met an extraordinary therapist and the person who would have the most long-term impact on our family. For over seven years, Meghan Dalton worked with our son 1:1 in the home environment, in his schooling, and in the community.

Working with a child with ASD is difficult. It is almost impossible to say what, exactly, makes an effective therapist for these children. A willingness to learn. Intelligence. Compassion. A great deal of energy. The ability to pay attention. Both consistency and also the ability to be flexible, to take advantage of spontaneous therapeutic moments in any situation. But that’s not all there is to it. Training in various treatment modalities can facilitate those skills, in part, but there will always be innate gifts that a given therapist brings to that relationship.

One of the first things that Ms. Dalton did was to take our son out into the world. While earlier therapists had often stayed at home with him, sitting in his room and working on goals, Meghan brought our son everywhere. She brought him to the beach. She brought him to walk in the woods. She facilitated interactions with animals and helped him to form relationships with them. She introduced him to gardening, and had a seemingly endless amount of ideas about how to help him to play outside, to move his body, to explore his environment. He would come home happy and exhausted—and, in the meantime, our son was learning.

Everywhere she went, Meghan found opportunities for therapeutic moments in a naturalized environment. She always had his goals in mind, but she worked toward them organically, within everyday interactions. She changed the way that I thought about therapy. I have never, in all my time working with children with ASD and their support providers, met a more talented therapist. 

Under Meghan’s guidance our son far exceeded our expectations in regard to his therapeutic goals. Perhaps more than that, our son became more consistently happy and connected, communicative, trusting of those around him, proud of himself and always looking for new challenges. 

Words cannot adequately express the deep gratitude we feel for Ms. Dalton’s deep commitment to these children, for her innovative and effective approach to therapy, and for the joy and shared attachment she provided for our child during their time together. 

Thank you,

Gina L. Vallis, Ph.D.

Meghan has been an advocate for our family for two years. As a parent of a special needs child, facing the school district and requesting the accommodations that my son requires, can feel intimidating to say the least. Meghan has helped us feel prepared and educated for every IEP meeting, conference with the principal, and e-mail interaction with the school. As a behavior analyst, she has given us a myriad of tools to help my eight year old son cope with the extreme symptoms of ADHD and SPD and as an eco therapist, Meghan has helped our whole family heal by teaching us how to reconnect with nature. I personally, cannot thank her enough for her services and would highly recommend her to anyone seeking an educated and compassionate therapist. ~ Myste F.