The Hanen Program®

The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Social Communication Difficulties.

About the More Than Words® Program

More than Words – Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a family-focused, social- pragmatic intervention program for young children with ASD. The goal of More Than Words is to empower parents to become the primary facilitator of their child’s communication and language development

Parents learn practical ways to help their child reach the following four goals:

1. Improved back-and-forth social interactions

2. Enhanced communication skills

3. More advanced play with toys

4. Improved understanding of language

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Why Are Parents Involved

**in the More Than Words Program?**

Parents are the most important people in their child’s life, as well as their child’s best teacher. As a parent, one of the greatest gifts you can give your child is the help he or she needs to communicate and connect with the world. In the More Than Words Program, you learn practical and powerful strategies to help your child communicate and interact during everyday routines and activities. It is within these familiar and repetitive interactions that your child’s communication skills will grow.

What Parents Learn in the More Than Words Program:
  How your child communicates right now and the next steps to take 
How your child learns best and how to take advantage of these preferences
What motivates your child to communicate and how to turn everyday activities into opportunities for learning to communicate
How to help your child understand what you say
How to develop your child’s play skills
How to help your child make friends

The More Than Words Program Includes:

Pre-program Consultation

1.5 hours

A session for you and your child with a Hanen Certified Speech- Language Pathologist before the program begins.

The pre-program consultation gives your More Than Words speech-language pathologist the opportunity to meet with you and your child to informally assess his or her communication skills.
During this visit, the speech-language pathologist will observe you and your child doing a variety of activities in which your child interacts and communicates with you the most, to inform the assessment and goal planning.

Small Group Sessions

16-20 hours

Eight training sessions crafted for parents that take place in small personalized groups.

You will learn about how and why your child communicates, what motivates your child to communicate, and how to use your knowledge about your child to set appropriate and realistic goals.
You will learn strategies to support your child’s understanding, develop their play skills, and support them in building relationships and making friends.

One-on-one Sessions

3-4 hours

Three individual consultations for you and your child during which:

You discuss communication goals and specific strategies for your child.
You are video recorded interacting with your child during everyday activities. This video is then reviewed and discussed with you so you can “see” what is helping and what else you can do to help your child learn.

Schedule Appointment