Although she is a speech and language pathologist at University Hospital's Speech and Hearing Center, Juli Hollenbeck works with children who might never utter a word in conversation.

"My goal is communication. I don't care if it's giving me a picture or it's looking at me," said Ms. Hollenbeck, who works with many children with autism spectrum disorder and uses a therapy that is common among occupational or physical therapists but not so common among speech therapists.

The Sensory Integration Program has been around for a few decades, but some insurance companies still consider it experimental.

Harriet Jarrard said her 8-year-old grandson, Bailey, has made measurable strides in the program, though.

"The first time he signed, I almost cried," Ms. Jarrard said. "It was an emotional experience."

Bailey was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 3. He has been working with Ms. Hollenbeck for about four years.

In children with sensory disorders, the "filters" are broken, Ms. Hollenbeck said. The incessant hum of an air conditioner or the whir of a ceiling fan is something they cannot shut out. One of the children she worked with would actually go to sleep to try to shut out the excessive stimuli, she said.

Sometimes, it's the opposite. They need extra activity -- jumping, chewing and spinning, for example -- for their senses, she said.

A speech-therapy session with Bailey includes a lot of sensory stimulation in a room in the Speech and Hearing Center funded by the North Augusta Sertoma Club. The room has a slide and a swing, among other items.

Because Bailey cannot talk, he must communicate in other ways. At one time, he had a picture book, and he would take the book to his family and point to a picture to indicate what he wanted. Now he has graduated to a computer with a voice recorder.

When he first got the Dynavox-V recorder, he would just randomly press buttons or slide his fingers across several at a time, Ms. Jarrard said. So if the machine said "I want music" instead of "I want to slide," Bailey got music.

Ms. Jarrard said he learned to be more careful and pick the right buttons.

To do any of the activities in his speech-therapy session, Bailey must first indicate what he wants to do; then he can play for two to three minutes. After that, he must go back to the machine and tell her another activity -- even if it is the one he just completed.

Ms. Jarrard said Bailey has achieved other milestones in his therapy sessions. At one time, he could not sit in a chair for longer than a couple of minutes. Now he can stay for 30 minutes.

"When he was younger, he used to want to stay in his room all the time. He seems more outgoing. He's so much better. He's come a long way," Ms. Jarrard said.

Bailey is a pupil at A. Brian Merry Elementary School, where the teachers work well with him, she said.