On April 2, the Family Advocacy Program, which part of Army Community Service, will launch lunch and learn series designed to aid parents as they navigate the complex world of raising children.
The programs run from April 2 until Oct. 29, 11 a.m. to noon and are hosted on Microsoft Teams.
The first class is “Spectrum, Support, & Synergy! – Understanding of Autism and its Dynamics.”
The guest speaker will be Dr. Anna DiNoto.
The CDC estimates 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Tim Rolfe said more than 13,000 military dependents have been diagnosed with autism.
“The prevalence of autism has been rising steadily over the past few decades,” Rolfe, the family advocacy program manager, said. “Reasons for the increase are not fully understood, but factors may include improved awareness, changes in diagnostic criteria, and environmental factors.”
The class will offer a comprehensive guide to understanding and supporting individuals with an ASD diagnosis.
“Autism Spectrum Disorder represents a broad group of developmental disorders characterized by impaired social interactions, problems with verbal and nonverbal communication, repetitive behaviors, or severely limited activities and interests,” Rolfe said. “ASD is known as a spectrum disorder because there is a wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience.
“Children with ASD may communicate, interact, behave and learn in ways that are different from others. Their abilities range from gifted to severely challenged. Some children with ASD need a lot of help in their daily lives, while others need less. Many supports exist to assist military family members with autism to include Army Community Service’s Exceptional Family Member Program.”
April 16’s installment will kick off a two-part series on scream-free parenting. Part 2 will follow on April 30.
“The ScreamFree Parenting class is a two-part course designed to explore the purpose of parenting, learning effective disciplinary strategies, reminds parents of the many benefits of staying level-headed, old school vs. new school parenting approaches, and the pitfalls of overly involved parents,” Rolfe said.
“In part two, we will explore definitions of growing up, review concepts of being responsible ‘to’ our children as opposed to being responsible ‘for’ our children, maintaining a position of positive influence in our children’s lives, consider strategies that will help parents stay in control of their emotional responses, the importance of effective role modeling, and shifting the focus from control to influence.”
Rolfe added if parents miss Part 1, it’s still useful to pick it up with Part 2.
“There will be a quick review of Part 1 in the beginning of Part 2, and all sessions within the Thriving Families Series will be recorded to go back and watch on demand at a more convenient time,” he said.
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