About Us

Our goal is to provide you with the skills you can use to help your child develop his/her social communication, and in the process, deepen your relationship with them.

The content in this site reflects over 18 years experience working all over the world with children on the autism spectrum. It is intended to bring this very simple and very effective form of therapy to every family who is interested and could benefit from it.

Aaron Deland
Founder/Director

Aaron DeLand

Aaron began his career working with children as a classroom teacher for preschool and kindergarten ages. After leaving teaching he started working with children on the autism spectrum in 1999 and knew immediately that this was his calling. Although he began working in ABA,  after a few years he  realized that the behavioral approach wasn’t for him. That’s when he found play therapy for autism at the Autism Treatment Center of America where he trained and worked for five years. Since venturing out on his own, Aaron has traveled all over the world, teaching parents and professionals how to play with children on the autism spectrum as a way to cultivate social development. All of those experiences shaped the content you’ll find on this site.

Since the autism  therapy Aaron provides usually involves traveling to the homes of the families he works with, it became apparent early on, that the number of families he could help was very limited. Aaron developed the course work on this site in order to bring the developmental benefits of play to as many families as possible.

Prescott College – B.A. in Experiential Education 1997

Autism Treatment Center of America -Child Facilitator/Instructor – 2001-2009

Institute for Integrative Nutrition- Certified Health Counselor 2008

HANDLE Therapy Basic Training 2008


Kim Scott Deland
Co-founder / Director

Kim Scott DeLand

Kim Scott DeLand, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a Certified Speech-Language Pathologist who is passionate about her work and dedicated to ensure that families will receive a high standard of personalized and professional care. Kim believes that parental involvement is crucial to the success of a child’s speech and language development. She encourages parents to get involved with their child’s therapy and helps them take an active role in their child’s development.

Kim’s philosophy is to establish a loving connection with her clients and to infuse fun into her speech therapy sessions. She uses her expertise to design a program unique for each child. Kids learn best through play, therefore her sessions are structured around play!

Kim currently runs her private speech therapy practice in Los Angeles. Check it out at https://speechtherapy101.com/

Connecting with Autism Los Angeles Autism Help

Connecting with Autism

Play.Connect.Grow is a child company of Connecting with Autism, founded in 2007 by Aaron DeLand. You can learn more about our approach to autism intervention by writing to connectingwithautism@hotmail.com

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