I attend far too many meetings, forums, conferences, information sessions; whatever you wish to title them. I was perusing through my note section on my ipad and discovered this list, titled "Breakout 1" dated April 15, 2011; 1,130 days ago. My few bits from whatever and wherever this interaction took place.
Breakout 1
Integrated approaches to autism services
Public education and awareness of spectrum disorders
Collaboration of research outcomes to create realistic change of service delivery
Patient based research, testimonials, not science labs
Give them what they need, not what you think they need (patient based)
Listen to community and align priorities
My numbered responses, from today:
1. Do we really integrate? The services in my province are segregated & at any one time you could be dealing with a multiple of publicly funded agencies, and that does not include private providers, educators and daycare providers
2. Autism awareness campaigns have been initiated, but do we have engagement of our public? They may donate money at a cash check-out and maybe even attend a World Autism Awareness Day event, but do they "get it"? (case in point, Doug Ford's latest and greatest headlines)
3. Yes, yes, yes!!! Not just research into the cause, but let's quantitatively measure results from a vast cross section what intervention programs truly achieve the best results
4. Ask the questions? Is this working, why or why not? Do not rely upon reports from the givers of the programs, ask the recipients
5. Where are the gaps? What is missing? What is working?
6. The Autism community is all of us: parents, siblings, teachers, employers, municipalities, service organizations- all need consultation to give those on the Spectrum a fair chance to succeed.
We need to continue communicating our needs and those of our children and adults on the spectrum.
