NEW CENTER HELPS KIDS WITH AUTISM; NEW PROGRAM WILL SERVE AREA FAMILKIES

The Department of Mental Health Regional Center in Sikeston in cooperation with the Missouri Autism Project, is initiating plans to open a center in Southeast Missouri to serve families with autistic children.

A Southeast office could serve 50-200 families in the area, providing assessment services, basic parent training, in-home behavior management training and crisis intervention.

The office would cater to people Cape Girardeau kids like Taylor Crowe and his family, a little closer to home.

Taylor was diagnosed with autism when he was four years old. He was diagnosed after his parents, David and Sally Crowe had exhausted several different leads, doctors and opinions.

"It's so rare that most doctors don't know what they're looking for," David Crowe said. "They'll tell you that his ears are fine, or he healthy, but don't give you any other options."

Autism isn't defined by a single symptom or at a certain time. Originally thought of as an emotional disorder caused by inadequate mothering, autism is now recognized as having an organic basis.

Autism is a severe developmental disability and communication disorder that causes difficulty in interpreting language and social behavior. Autistic children often experience severe behavior problems, a lack of affect or show of emotions and unusual behaviors taken to extremes.

The primary problem in autism is the way the brain processes and integrates information, resulting in problems of social interaction, communication and behavior.

Diagnosing autism can be difficult because it resembles other disabilities or forms of mental retardation. However, compared with mentally retarded people, individuals with autism have more intellectual strengths, which can be above average in some areas.

Taylor, who looks like any other active 11-year-old boy, has several therapists who work with him to develop better communication and living skills.

"Taylor has made incredible headway," boasts his father. "He's doing things now that we wouldn't have dreamed just a short time ago."

But Taylor is a very fortunate child, in that his family has sought out the best therapy possible and was able not only to access it, but also able to afford it.

Many people are either not able to access proper care or cannot afford it, and forced to do what they can for their child in their home, while not fully understanding the nature of their child's disorder.

"Being the parent of an autistic child is extremely stressful, but that stress is magnified by the non availability of services and lack of support groups," Crowe said.

It is for these reasons that the Missouri Autism Project will open a center in Southeast Missouri, to access some of the people who ordinarily wouldn't be able to seek help and to make services available a little closer to home.

Bob Bax, public affairs officer for the Department of Mental Health in Jefferson City, said the program is unique in that its services are dictated by the needs of the families it serves.

"For example, parents have told us that they need respite care," said Bax. "They need the freedom to leave their autistic child from time to time in the care of someone else."

Area families have also demonstrated the need for intense in-home therapy.

The project is designed to send a therapist into the homes of autistic families to help them understand and work with autistic children, allowing for the normalcy of a home environment.

In addition, since people with autism vary widely in skills and behavior, it is very important that a program be specifically tailored to the individual, in an environment that is compatible with daily living experiences.

"The most difficult times for many families with autistic children are at meal times and at bed time," Bax said. "With a therapist in the home, the family as a unit can learn to address the situation and best work with it."

Because the goal for autistic children is to function as adults in their own communities, the project also focuses on effective communication and occupational therapy.

Southeast Missouri families with autistic children met last week in Sikeston to pool their ideas and begin steps to choose a site for the center.

"We'll locate where the need is greatest; where the consensus dictates," Bax said.

For Crowe, a center in Southeast Missouri means not only better services closer to home, but much needed counseling services for the child, families, teachers and health care workers.

Taylor is in the fifth grade at Franklin Elementary School. He spends half the day in special classes and half the day with his peers in a classroom.

"He just loves everybody," his father said. "All the kids relate to him very well; he has lots of friends."

Recent studies have shown the effectiveness of non-handicapped peers in teaching social and play skills to autistic children. Taylor's apparent benefit from interaction with his classmates reinforces the theory.

Taylor loves to draw pictures and play Nintendo (Super Mario Brothers III is his favorite). He says that the best part of the school day is recess when he gets to go out and play with the other kids.

The Missouri Autism Project was initiated in 1991 to serve families in 20 Mid-Missouri counties. Without the program, families often had to travel to St. Louis or Kansas City to seek medical care for their children.

Bax said that several Southeast Missouri families would have to spend weeks at a time in St. Louis for therapy prior to the opening of the regional centers in Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

Frustrated families called upon their local health care officials and state and local legislators to fund a program to pertain strictly to their situation.

In its first year, the state awarded the Missouri Autism Project $110,000 to establish its services. This year, the state tripled that amount.

"It's a neat program in that the parents are so involved," Bax said. "We really hope to have this kind of thing state wide in the near future."