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Welcome to our new website!

Common Threads wishes to thank Knupp & Watson for their generous help in designing our new site through their Goodstock 2009 event. We hope that you find our site helpful and easy to use.

main pageOur Mission:

We believe that a child thrives in a strong family. Our mission is to enhance the development of children with emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and sensory challenges, and to provide their families with support and direction. We accomplish this by providing a variety of innovative services and opportunities. We assist families in maintaining a balance between meeting their many challenges and flourishing as a family.

We support children and adolescents with:

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Mental health challenges
  • Developmental delays
  • Sensory integration needs
  • Behavioral issues
  • Social challenges

Why We Care

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability in which the individual has abnormalities in the areas of communication, socialization, and the display of repetitive bizarre behaviors called stereotyped behavior. The severity of symptoms present uniquely in each child. For instance, one child may be completely non-verbal, yet display relatively little social deficit or stereotyped behavior, while another is quite verbally precocious but unable to make eye contact and is compulsive about ritualistic behavior. The broader term Autism Spectrum Disorder is often used to describe the condition.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Board of Education concur: autism rates have reached alarming numbers. In 1960, autism affected one individual in ten thousand (1/10,000). In 1980, the numbers had increased to one in five hundred (1/500). When the figures were calculated in 2000, the numbers had grown to one child in every one hundred and sixty-six (1/166). Currently the numbers are a shocking one child in every one hundred and ten (1/110)  is affected, with the incidence of boys being higher. That is more than childhood cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Common Threads was developed in response to this crisis.