Written by: Emily Adams, 8/7/2025
Original article: https://www.stlmag.com/health/caravel-autism-health/
Caravel Autism Health, a comprehensive autism therapy service center, is expanding across the metro area. After opening its first area location in Weldon Springs, the group added centers in Oakville and Chesterfield this summer.
Regional director Lindsey Holtsman says the expansion is because of personal ties, with multiple members of the leadership team based here, and a need that Caravel saw in the market for both treatment and job opportunities. “We’re trying to bring those needed services to the areas that we know and love,” Holtsman says.
Caravel aims to deliver compassionate, custom, comprehensive care to St. Louis families through applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, which aims to “help people with autism and other developmental disorders learn skills and behaviors that help them live safer and more fulfilling lives,” according to Autism Speaks. “I get to change lives,” Holtsman says. “I get to be a resource for families. I get to support and mentor new practitioners who are coming into the field.”
Holtsman shared more about Caravel’s services and how caregivers can offer support to children with autism.
Why is it important to offer a full spectrum of care under one roof? In a full-service facility, things can get expedited and systematically organized to support families. We know that early screenings, as well as early diagnoses and early intervention, are so imperative. We know that ABA therapy is the gold standard for treating any individual with autism. So it’s nice to be able to coordinate all of those pieces for a family that is inundated by social media and people in the community. We’re able to be a resource and guide to support them from start to finish or to guide them to other services that might be appropriate if that’s the case.
What makes Caravel’s approach to therapy stand out? It leads with the culture. When staff members are getting the support and guidance they need—the training, the mentorship to deliver the best services they can—that’s going to equate to better outcomes for the clients. We also have a department that ensures that clinical quality piece and supports a lot of mentorship and opportunity for our clinicians to work beyond that basic level of certification for our field. That training and mentorship is really key.
What are the initial steps for engaging with Caravel? Go onto the website and fill out an inquiry form, and that triggers our intake team. Then, the intake team can reach out and start talking about what services would potentially look like: Does the client have a diagnosis already, or are they needing to go through our counseling department and support some of those diagnostic components? Then we do a meet-and-greet, before we even engage in anything with insurance.
Why are those initial steps essential to care? We want to get to know the family, make sure we’re the right fit and can answer any and all questions. Then, we move into a financial advocacy call; our financial advocacy department supports families through insurance components, before moving into our clinical deep dive of learning about the family through interviews, assessment, and observations. Then, it’s the day to day of what treatment would look like for the next six months. Then, it’s reassess, rinse, and repeat.
How does early intervention, through ABA therapy and other approaches, impact long-term outcomes for children on the autism spectrum? We are behavior analysts, so everything we do is driven by science, research, and evidence-based practice. At Caravel, we have an entire department that looks at that clinical excellence and ensures that our early intervention is topnotch. It is the best that we can potentially be delivering with up-to-date science. That’s how we know early intervention can be so key.
How is that data applied to real-life scenarios? We put a one-on-one registered behavior technician with kiddos to really ensure they’re getting support and opportunities to learn and grow; to individualize things to their needs, their family’s values, and symptomology; to create that individual package to support them and fill those areas that might need more support, so they can be more independent. We do this whole baseline process to really deep dive into what that child needs individually and then build it up to the fullest extent. The data is how we know that early intervention can really support those foundational skill sets to build off of, so we can continue to grow and get a child to independence.
What does success look like for families? We want to see things developing in an appropriate, expected way to meet the goals that we have set forth for treatment. So data is huge when it comes to our outcomes but also their life. When we’re doing those regular touchpoint reviews, we’re asking, ‘How is your life being positively impact? What are you able to access in the community that you couldn’t before? What are some things that you’re able to try with your child that you couldn’t even attempt before this started?’ Our goal is to build skills and give family and caregivers tools so they can step into school or do other things as life progresses, without having us as engaged in those pieces.
What type of financial support does Caravel offer for families? Caravel is a very pay-it-forward organization that supports families through any additional funding circumstances that they might be undergoing. We have a mix of payers with which we’re able to offset [challenges] to ensure there’s always a continuation of care.
What are common signs or symptoms that might merit reaching out to Caravel? A lot of times, you’ll typically get some information or concern from your school, because they’re seeing the ins and outs of the social interactions… With some of the socialization pieces, we see a lot of parallel play: such as not as much initiation and involvement with peers or interest, as well as very restricted interests. They might be lining things up or being very particular with items or specific topics. So we see a lot of rigidity—very stuck on certain thoughts, certain ways of things being… Obviously. not meeting certain milestones in language. You might see regression or not see development in a typical way…and it’s worth getting checked out.
What are a couple of the top misperceptions about the centers? The big one is compassionate care and how ABA can be feared due to misconceptions of more traditional and archaic methods that have been used in the past that are no longer used. Our science has progressed, our practitioners have evolved and gotten better, smarter, wiser, and more compassionate… and there are a lot of providers, such as Caravel, who are very mindful of those things. A lot of clients come in with previous trauma that we’re going to be very mindful of in our treatment. Another myth to debunk is what causes autism or questioning vaccinations. [Research and data indicate] there is an environmental factor and a genetic factor, and we know that ABA is the gold standard for treatment.
How can autism be a ‘superpower’ for kids? Every child is different, whether they have a diagnosis or not. It’s realizing that we are all unique, we are all weird in our own ways, and we all have a lot of these attributes. And then it’s realizing that they can be utilized for developing larger skillsets and building on those foundational things. So yeah, the kiddo that knows all of the ins and outs of snakes and reptiles—that is a great opportunity to build on a social interaction with somebody who also might be interested or not know the things that they know about snakes. And then, all of a sudden, we’re starting to form this friendship that probably wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t have this quirky knowledge base. Kiddos, especially kiddos with a spectrum disorder, have different memorization skills. They can help their parents remember dates and people and things that they would not be able to do without them. That photographic memory can be really supportive and helpful in those ways… I could go on and on, because I also think neurodivergent individuals are super-cool. They teach you something new every single day; whether it’s a struggle or a strength, it’s an opportunity to learn and grow.
What can parents and caretakers do to support family members with autism? Be open-minded. As parents, we have instinctual things that we want to do to support our children, and I think there are sometimes intuitive things that work really well for kids with autism, but I think sometimes we have to look at it in a different lens. Sometimes, we have to look at short-term goals, as well as long-term goals. This is a process, so we have to be open to what that process entails and ensuring that we see both the short-term and the big picture of what we’re trying to do here. Be open to that process, and be open to feedback that we might need to adjust and do things differently. There might be some troubleshooting involved where we might try something, and we’ve gotta adjust it. But we know that these plans are a work in progress, and we’re going to be tracking, evolving, and moving that based on maturity development and new family dynamics. Being open and communicative during those processes can be really helpful to allow room for growth.
