FORT CARSON, Colo. -- For parents with a child newly diagnosed with autism, life can be bewildering, but a class offered through the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) aims to support parents through those challenges.
The class, which kicks off April as Autism Awareness Month, is offered in partnership with Trumpet Behavioral Health from 6-7:30 p.m. April 10 at Army Community Service.
"(Parents) are really overwhelmed. They don't know all the resources. With this class, not only are they learning additional parenting skills, but it's a network opportunity (to meet other) parents who have been doing it for a while and know the doctors, know the resources," said Sunny Ginter, EFMP system navigator.
The class is unique in that it offers a parenting class in addition to providing a social skills group for children at the same time.
"For our education classes, we usually get really low participation, and we think that one of the reasons is that (parents) don't have any child care," she said. "If you have a special-needs child, it can be difficult to find child care."
Children of all ages at any point in the autism spectrum are welcome to attend the social skills group, which will be facilitated by Trumpet Behavioral staff trained in applied behavior analysis (ABA).
"A lot of times there are behaviors that go along with kids that are on the spectrum, and ABA really assists in those behaviors that can help improve daily living … it's just helping them become a little more independent," Ginter said.
The children's groups will work on skills such as communication, language development, compromise and problem solving.
The class for parents will focus on topics such as creating a more efficient routine, assisting autistic children in learning to complete daily living tasks and avoiding and managing challenging behaviors at home and in public.
"Sometimes parents who have kids on the spectrum are not leaving the house as much because the behaviors are challenging and it's really hard in public … (this class helps) address the behavior and limit the behavior in public," she said.
While the focus of the class is on parents with a child newly diagnosed with autism, anyone is welcome to attend.
Registration for the class can be made by calling EFMP at 526-4590. In addition to registering, parents are asked to complete a survey to ensure they are getting the training and support they need. The survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MN775D6.
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