Tuesday: Effective Advocating

Community Resources

Every community has resources available to support children of all abilities to participate in activities and programs. Summer time is often very difficult for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. Spencer thrives on a good routine. Here are a few ideas I’ve used in the past.

1. If your child is on the August-May schedule or something similar- Check out summer school- for children with an IEP it’s called ESY or extended school year. The planning for this begins before Christmas break so if you feel you need more assistance this year be sure to check it out for next year. Call for a team meeting in October/November to request a detailed explanation of the upcoming quarterly report and to discuss the possibility for ESY next year. At that meeting let the team know that you will be requesting data to be taken over the first 2 weeks after winter break is over to see if your child looses skills over winter break. If there is loss of skills based on the report and the following data then he/she might qualify for ESY. There’s a bit more to it than that, but this information will get you started.

2. Call your community center. PLB (Productive Living Board) of St. Louis County is a grant program that funds a number of worth wile resources in our area including an inclusion specialist for the city of Maryland Heights. She and I meet before Spencer after I enroll Spencer in a program at the center and discuss his needs and how to best support him. She reads his current IEP and behavior plan for school and does an in depth parent interview. Spencer does a summer day camp through the community center and they provide a shadow for him funded by the PLB and trained by the inclusion specialist!

3. Swimming Lessons- Many teachers will take 1:1 students and some specialize in teaching children with disabilities. Ask around at your local YMCA or pool and see if they offer these services.

4. Speaking of the YMCA! Our local YMCA chapters have an inclusion specialist as well! We have not tapped into this resource yet, but we can enroll Spencer in an activity at the YMCA and he will have a trained staff person to assist him in succeeding in the activity. They also have packet programs for children with disabilities where they can come meet their assistant 10 times for a set amount of money and work out, swim, play tennis or any of the other multitude of activities offered at the Y for members and you don’t have to join.

5. Community Resource Fairs- every March our area does an Autism Fair to allow parents the opportunity to talk to local vendors of services all in one place. We’ve gone to this a number of times. It saves a lot of time and energy and you find out a lot of new things.

6. Ask. It’s simple, but asking questions is a great way to find out things. I think Big Bird said that on Sesame Street. Either way it’s good advice- If there’s an activity you think your child will like, but you wonder how he or she will do because of the specific challenges they have- call up the company and ask. You might be surprised at what you learn.