Tucson Alliance For Autism

I'm incredibly grateful to Tucson Alliance for Autism for the outstanding training they provided for our staff. The presentation was not only informative but delivered with genuine passion and expertise. They provided excellent resources and truly made a difference in how our team views and approaches working with children with autism. Their commitment to their mission is evident, and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of Autism.

TAFA is fantastic! Our daughter has been coming here for 2 years and loves it. Her therapist Molly has been truly wonderful for her and our family. She has even helped us navigate new schools and teachers. Thank you TAFA!

I have a son with autism that attends classes here. It has changed him in such a wonderful way. People have noticed the change in his social behavior. He’s happier and more relaxed in social settings. The staff is amazing and caring.

TAFA’s social thinking groups are great!

Such a great opportunity for our kids to learn social in a relaxed setting. 💛

*TAFA response below says I had indicated I was happy with the evaluation process. This is simply not true. I was hopeful our experience at TAFA would be positive. The initial evaluation was surprisingly short - just 1 hour. After waiting 6 weeks for the report, I was able to find an additional report from psychological testing we had done 2 years before, which was very relevant. I made an appointment for a follow up to share this information. At this appointment I was told that the diagnosis would stand, “no matter what additional information was brought by the parent”. I tried to share the additional test results but was dismissed. My teen child, who tried to explain her stimming behaviors, was told what they were. Her own explanations and feelings about them, were completely dismissed. I was corrected about even using the word “stimming” and made to feel stupid for using it. The report they generated was anecdotal at best (another psychologist said this!), and failed to provide any concrete test results. We encountered 3 biases. The first was against homeschoolers. We were told that my daughter’s difficulties were due to being homeschooled, and that putting her in public school would fix everything. Also that her difficulties could be helped with “a good typing class”. Dr Chandler laughed as she said this. The second bias was against perceived socio economic status. My daughter shared her hopes and dreams, and Dr Chandler assumed they referred to wealth, which she specifically referenced in the report. “Family resources to which she has access”. Family resources (if they did actually exist), are not a valid criteria for diagnosis. And thirdly, bias against ESA. It was very important to the evaluators that we were not seeking any ESA support. This is a legitimate support for any autistic child. One week after this horrendous meeting, we met with Dr Sara Frye, who kindly accepted all our documentation, completed our evaluation thoroughly, and provided us with so many recommendations for support!

I am late diagnosed. Everyone I interacted with at TAFA was wonderful. VERY FEW places in this country do adult evaluations (19+). They answered my questions, were very friendly. Some of the negative reviews here seem disingenuous to me. One talks about mold. I was diagnosed late 2023 here after calling HUNDREDS of places (not exaggerating). Unless it's changed, I highly recommend TAFA.