• Hats Off To Columbus Area Support Group and Bartholomew Community School Corporation: Partnership
• Hats Off To Hamilton-Boone-Madison Special Services Cooperative: Movie Day
• Hats Off To South LaPorte County Special Education Cooperative and Autism Society of Central Indiana: Start a Walk in Your Community
• Hats Off To M.S.D. of Wayne Township: Creating Building Level Autism Teams
• Hats Off To Johnson County Special Services
• Hats Off To Switzerland County Middle School Autism Team
• Hats Off To MSD of Lawrence Township: Training via District Website
• Hats Off To MSD of Warren Township: S.A.F.E. Supporting Autism for Everyone
• Hats Off To MSD of Martinsville: Camp Discovery: A Place for Kids to Have Fun!
• Hats Off To An Autism Team Working in Indiana: First Responder Training
• Autism Teams: Building Capacity Across Indiana
• Hats Off to Noblesville Schools for Creating Training Classrooms: Using Evidence-Based Practices of Visual Supports and Work Systems
• Hats Off To Asperger Autism Group of Goshen
• Hats Off to East Centeral Indiana Autism Society of America Chapter: Interlock
• Hats Off To Greater Lafayette Area Special Services Autism Team

Hats Off To . . . Columbus Area Support Group and Bartholomew Community School Corporation: Partnership

For the last few years, members of the Columbus Autism Parent Support Group have done a variety of things to help with the awareness of autism spectrum disorders for their children in the schools and their community. The first year, a few parents got together to bake cookies and create fact sheets of strategies for teachers working with children on the autism spectrum. These packages were delivered to all of the teachers in 11 elementary and two middle schools. The second year, individual parents had a variety of ideas on how to continue to get the word out. Some went into their child’s school to read to classes about autism. Others furnished lunches for all staff. The third year, parents decided to make ribbons of puzzle pieces for all of the staff including the custodians, cooks, secretaries, and administrators. One parent said, when she visited the school she noticed everyone was wearing the autism ribbon. She said, “it was very cool to see.”

Last year, a parent contacted the local paper about doing an article on a family with autism to expand autism awareness into the community. She wasn't planning for it to be her own family, but it just worked out that way. On April 7, 2008, the first of many weekly articles appeared in the Republic (http://www.therepublic.com/). The first article was about overcoming the challenges of having a son on the autism spectrum and how the school looks at each individual’s strengths, special challenges and gifts. With the support of the school’s staff and autism coordinator, her son is able to be successful and is overcoming his challenges. On Saturday of the same week, several members from the parent support group wrote letters to the editor sharing their own personal stories. Their stories included how their lives had been enriched by having a son or daughter with autism and giving thanks to school personnel (teachers and principals), the autism consultant (Nancy Conner), and the director of special education (Dr. George Van Horn) for their caring dedication. The Republic followed up with a response about the importance of inclusion of children with autism in the classroom saying, “exposure serves to shatter stereotypes and open whole new worlds of experience for younger people.” Overall, the parents felt the articles provided an overwhelming outreach to the community, advocated for families, and resulted in positive outcomes for their children.

During the past several years, parents have been emailing staff once a week on Sunday evenings to recap the weekend, sharing what the child did in order to give staff conversations topics to discuss on Monday’s. This was initially started as an email to the school speech and language therapist (SLP) to help her develop reciprocal communication skills with one parent’s son. The parent thought if the SLP knew the answers she could ask the right questions. This led to ccing’s the rest of the teachers, therapists, and the principal so everyone knew what was going on at home. This idea has spread to many other parents and schools in Columbus. Everyone has appreciated the information. This continues to be advantageous to the staff and students.

For further information on how to involve your parent group with the schools and create community outreach, contact Kim Wolford, (kjwolford@comcast.net), Lisa Wyrick (812-342-1497 or wyrickdl@sbcglobal.net) or Nancy Conner, (connern@bcsc.k12.in.us).

Dubie, M. Hats off to… Columbus area support group and Bartholomew community school corporation: Partnership. The Reporter, 14(2), 18.