The one big learning we have had as parents of an Autistic child is that when it comes to therapies it is the Quality that counts. Just keeping your child in a "Center" for X number of hours a day may not be really productive or effective for the child. Especially if the people around your child there are not properly trained or qualified.
When our daughter started seeing a Clinical Psychologist for her Behavioral Therapy her first sessions lasted only seconds. Slowly but steadily the seconds turned into minutes and after 6 months of one on one sessions she is now close to 45 minutes at a time all in a good mood and with excellent response. Sadly many other parents we have met seem to take a different approach to these private sessions.
As they pay money for the hour they feel that should be the time their child should stay. Whether the child likes it or not. The standard "I should get what I pay for", logic comes into play. In fact over a long term this will be more harmful for the child as the sessions will seem more like a punishment rather than something to look forward to. After all a five minute "happy" session is likely to get more through to the child than a 30 minute "unhappy" one.
For many Autistic children that have strong likes and dislikes the gradual approach will pay higher dividends in the long term. At least in this scenario Quality will always win against quantity.
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