STREAMWOOD, IL- Even with recent budget cuts and spending freezes in Washington, President Obama this week supported research and growth in the sciences, particularly autism. This sentiment was echoed today in Gurnee, Illinois, where education professionals from around Chicago, as well as social workers and psychologists, gathered at the Warren Township Youth Center to discuss autism.

“You have to meet them where they are,” said workshop leader Dr. Shawn Daugherty. “These children aren’t going to come to you.”

The workshop was hosted by Streamwood Behavioral Health Systems, a youth hospital that works extensively in the field of autism. Last year, a new autism wing was opened at the hospital and boasts a premier environment for educating and treating children with autism.

“Experts in autism were integral in the development of our new wing,” said Streamwood Hospital’s CEO Cindy Meyer. “The environment is very important when working with children with autism. Everything from the lighting to the color schemes was considered.”

With the rate of children diagnosed with autism rising steadily, it is no wonder that President Obama has pushed it to the front of the science arena. It is also a leading concern among our educators who often feel ill equipped to deal with the growing number of students in the classroom who have autism.

“Who feels like their knowledge of autism is limited to having seen the movie Rainman?” said Dr. Daugherty at the beginning of the workshop. A few hands crept up in the crowd.

Others in the audience, like Jenna, a teacher at Woodland Primary, work daily with children with autism but still take every opportunity to learn more about techniques to deal with her students’ idiosyncrasies.

Public knowledge and understanding of autism has grown in the last couple of decades, but many educators feel that they still have had little practical help or experience that has enabled them to engage and make progress with students that fall within the autism spectrum.

A key tenant of Dr. Daugherty’s workshop was to understand the brain and mindset of a child with autism. For example, typical comforting actions like talking about a problem with a person or laying a gentle hand on a troubled individual may not work with children with autism and, in certain instances, may actually exacerbate an already problematic situation.

Since many individuals with autism have poor or non-existent verbal communication skills, pictures or other visual cues may be more effective tools than talking which often causes confusion. Likewise, certain people with autism are very sensitive to touch and pressure and a calming hand on the shoulder may be uncomfortable, awkward or even threatening for them.

“Their brains work differently,” said Dr. Daugherty. “That doesn’t mean they are any less special or individual, just different.”

While scientists will hopefully unlock some of the secrets of autism in the future, like what causes it and why diagnosis of children with autism has been on the rise, workshops like these serve as a valuable place for professionals to hone their skills and bulk up their tool boxes. In turn, they can more effectively engage a growing population of often misunderstood children in our public schools.

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