On Thursday, July 23rd, Lighthouse Autism Center hosted its third annual baseball outing. Staff from all three (and soon to be four!) locations came together for an evening at the ballpark. It is an event we always look forward to and we love seeing how the outing grows from year-to-year. This is a great opportunity for Lighthouse staff to come together outside of work, and for Lighthouse to show our employees how much we appreciate all of their hard work!
It is with great excitement that we announce Sandy Maggioli’s election as Vice President of InPeat. For those of you not familiar with this organization, InPeat seeks to “enhance the professional success of it’s member organizations, to facilitate relationships with payers, encourage and facilitate the adherence to high ethical and professional standards, and to promote a better understanding of the services provided by their members.”
Sandy Maggioli, co-founder of Lighthouse Autism Center and parent of a child with autism, has spent years advocating for autism services and advocating on behalf of those effected by autism. We want to congratulate her on this exciting new role and know that her skills, experience and leadership will greatly contribute to the mission and goals of InPeat.
This month we celebrate three years of providing quality ABA therapy in Northern Indiana. Since opening in 2012, Lighthouse Autism Center has opened three centers and has plans to open a fourth this summer. Yesterday, we celebrated this achievement with our Annual Anniversary Bbq. Lighthouse staff gathered in the backyard of our Edison location for good food, good company, and to celebrate the great work they do for children with autism. During the bbq each year, we also take the time to recognize staff who have been with Lighthouse for at least two years. Their work and time is commemorated with a 2 year anniversary brick that will always remain at Lighthouse, even when some of our staff move on.
We are excited to see what the next year brings for our organization as we continue to grow and serve even more families in the Northern Indiana area. Thank you to all the Lighthouse families, without your commitment and faith in our organization we would not be here. Thank you also to our incredible staff that work one-on-one with the kiddos, the admin staff behind the scenes, and the founders, Gregg and Sandy Maggioli, for without your work and dedication, Lighthouse would not be where it is today.
This Saturday, May 2nd there are two community events happening that we would like to let you know about.
The first is David’s Run for Autism. It will take place in Nappanee, IN starting at 8:30am. There will be autism resource tables there, food, games and activities for the whole family. For more details and to register for the run/walk, click here.
The second event will be hosted by IN*SOURCE on Saturday May 2nd from 10:00am-12:30pm at 602 South 8th St. in Goshen IN. The workshop “Be Safe: The Movie, How to Interact Safely with the Police,” will give parents the education and tools to teach their child with autism how to respond and interact appropriately with the police.
We hope that you might be able to attend one of these events. Please continue to check our posts for upcoming community events as well as autism resources!
In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously declared that April 2nd would become World Autism Awareness Day. Today, we celebrate by wearing blue to not only raise awareness about autism, but also promote acceptance. We will continue to celebrate Autism Awareness for the entire month of April, and always celebrate autism acceptance here at Lighthouse Autism Center. Today, our kiddos and staff celebrated by wearing blue, doing puzzle piece crafts, and making signs to show our support for autism awareness.
In order to best support our families, at Lighthouse Autism Center, we believe that being open allows our parents who must go to work is truly putting our children and their families first. We also do not close for weather related reasons on the same schedule as the local schools, as we do not have the concerns of children waiting for buses, walking to school, etc.
We also realize that all Lighthouse Autism Center facilities feel the effects of inclement weather differently, based on locations weather differently, based on location, so we developed the following guidelines for weather related closings at each autism center.
If your building is closed, you will receive an automatic text message and email from our system by 6:30 a.m. that morning. All closings and delays will also be posted to the Lighthouse Autism Center Facebook page and website.
Do not rely on the local news for alerts of our autism center closings and delays.
Previous closing memo example:
Lighthouse Autism Center will be closed Friday January 9th due to weather.
Stay Warm!!!
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week, all three of the Lighthouse centers had two very special guests – Mr. and Mrs. Clause! Santa and Mrs. Clause made their first stop at the Warsaw location on Wednesday. Although only two of our kiddos were there to see him, the Warsaw staff made the most of it and had a wonderful Christmas party!
Next stop for Santa was our Park Place location. Although we have an older group of kids here they still very much enjoyed seeing and interacting with Mr. and Mrs. Clause. Families were welcome to partake and many of our kiddos brought their younger siblings so they could join in the Christmas games, goodies and crafts!
The last stop was the Edison Lakes Parkway location. Santa and Mrs. Clause sat in front of our fire place and each kiddo was able to get a picture with Santa, and even the staff too!
Although we had three separate Christmas celebrations, all three centers came together to donate Christmas gifts and Christmas dinner to two local families in need through St. Anythony’s Giving Tree Program! This is the second year we have done this and is a tradition we intend to continue here at Lighthouse.
This past weekend Lighthouse Autism Center held it’s third Annual Christmas Party. The theme for the party was holiday movies and the night was filled with good food, good, drink and fantastic company. With a little over 100 guests, it is incredible to see just how much Lighthouse has grown over the last year. The picture on the left is the all staff photo taken at the first Christmas party in 2012, and the photo on the right is this years Christmas party. Wow!
Staff were also asked to bring non-perishable food items as their “admission” to the party, and we collected over 100 items for Hope Ministries! It is so wonderful to see our staff wanting to give back to the community and we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group who give back through their work all year long. Staff are able to see just how big of an impact they have on LAC families when they read the letters written by parents to staff during the holiday season. We concluded our Christmas party by asking several staff to read these letters. It was a wonderful way to end the evening, with staff being able to see just how much they change the lives of the families we serve.
In order to best support our families, at Lighthouse Autism Center, we believe that being open allows our parents who must go to work is truly putting our children and their families first. We also do not close for weather related reasons on the same schedule as the local schools, as we do not have the concerns of children waiting for buses, walking to school, etc.
We also realize that all Lighthouse Autism Center facilities feel the effects of inclement weather differently, based on locations weather differently, based on location, so we developed the following guidelines for weather related closings at each autism center.
If your building is closed, you will receive an automatic text message and email from our system by 6:30 a.m. that morning. All closings and delays will also be posted to the Lighthouse Autism Center Facebook page and website.
Do not rely on the local news for alerts of our autism center closings and delays.
Previous closing memo example:
As a result of changes from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Open Enrollment period for insurance is now occurring only once per year. For coverage starting in 2015, the Open Enrollment period is November 15, 2014- February 15, 2015. Individuals may also qualify for Special Enrollment periods outside of Open Enrollment if they experience certain events. So, unless parents of a child with autism have a qualifying event, they will need to take advantage of the Open Enrollment period to make sure they can obtain autism therapy coverage for their child in 2015.
Why parents cannot afford to wait an entire year to enroll
Lighthouse Autism Center typically sees an uptick in clients in the August and September timeframes, when kids go back to school. This increase in numbers stems from parents getting repeat calls from school to pick up a “problematic” child. It is critical for parents with children evaluated and diagnosed with autism to take advantage of Open Enrollment so coverage for therapy can begin promptly in 2015, as needed.
Waiting until the next Open Enrollment period in November 2015 will delay needed therapy for an entire year and can have a negative impact on a child’s development. A child having to delay full-time autism therapy for one year loses out on 2,040 hours of therapy which could have been spent teaching them new skills. One year in the development of a child, depending on the child’s age, can mean the difference between being potty trained, learning to talk, and learning to play well with others. The earlier a child receives services, the better their chances of reaching his/her full potential. Some behavior analysts actually say that one year of a learned inappropriate behavior will result in six months to “unlearn” the behavior and learn a more appropriate one. If undesirable behaviors are compounded, this could essentially add a need for more therapy time than originally necessary.
To read the entire October issue of The Autism Beacon, click here.
Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) and Institute for Behavioral Training (IBT) today announced that they will partner to train first responders on how to approach and interact with individuals with autism spectrum disorder beginning in April for Autism Awareness Month. IBT has trained over 3,000 people across the United States and various countries since 2013. The free training titled, “Autism for First Responders,” will be presented in Fairport, N.Y. on April 30; Larchmont, N.Y. on April 30; Chicago, Ill. on April 23; Austin, Texas on April 26; Phoenix, Ariz. on April 28 and 29; Washington, D.C. on April 23; and in the following California cities, Sacramento on April 28, Fresno on April 25, Woodland Hills on April 24, Thousand Oaks on April 30, Tustin on May 1, Temecula on April 29, Riverside on April 28, and San Marcos on April 29.
According to the new statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on March 27, 2014, one in every 68 children in America is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with one in 42 boys and one in 189 girls diagnosed. As more children, teens and adults are impacted by ASD, more police and other first responders will have interactions with the population.
Individuals with autism may struggle to communicate, make appropriate eye contact or even respond to someone asking them their name. The behaviors that children and teens with ASD display vary greatly, which is why autism is described as a spectrum disorder. Parents and professionals agree that safety is a huge concern for everyone in this population as they may be easily distracted, lost or even elope from their school or surroundings. The “Autism for First Responders” training will enable emergency personnel to recognize the signs of ASD and react accordingly to minimize their own risk and that of the individuals with autism.
“Training first responders to recognize ASD is crucial,” said Cecilia H. Knight, director of IBT. “Helping a family find a child who has wandered away, protecting an adult with autism whose behavior is misunderstood, or helping a paramedic know how to interact when a child is injured can truly make a life or death difference. Recognizing the signs of autism and knowing how to react is key.”
The trainings will be hosted by CARD treatment centers across the United States. IBT’s training will teach attendees the signs and symptoms of ASD, how to communicate with individuals who appear to be affected by autism and tips for first responders who interact with individuals on the spectrum. For more information on the events or to set-up a training, please visit https://www.centerforautism.com/first-responders.aspx
For the original article see the link below
