There’s still hope

by Bethany Jaeger

Greg and Marla Brotherton of Taylorville navigated uncharted waters when their son Ross was one of the first children diagnosed with autism in the area.

That was 23 years ago, when they didn’t know what autism meant and were shocked when doctors told them to start looking into institutions. Only one year prior, Ross had been saying, “Mama” and “Daddy” and wanted to sit in their laps for them to read books.

“We tried just about everything, especially at first,” Greg Brotherton says. “I heard one time that some boy swam with the dolphins, and that made him better. We didn’t quite go that far, but we tried a lot of things.”

The family worked with local schools to build each new classroom around Ross’ needs.

Now Ross works in a local health clinic, assembling parts of a plastic spool and attending training to build his social skills.

Although the Brothertons say they couldn’t be happier with the way the community has adapted to their needs, Lyn Becker, an education advocate with 20 years of experience in special education, says the state often falls behind in assisting adults.

“When it comes to kids and young adults leaving high school and moving into the workforce, it’s really sad. There are very few supports out there.”

One program designed to help young adults transition into life after school is an autism-specific institute for children of all ages, the Hope Institute for Children and Families in Springfield. The campus includes residential facilities where students can live while attending school.

The private institute opened more than 50 years ago and accepts children who can’t succeed in their local public schools because they need a “critical mass of services,” says Mark Schmidt, chief communications officer for the institute.

“We take the toughest cases.”

About 70 percent of the students have an autism disorder.

The school uses fluorescent light bulbs that are less likely to overload hyperactive senses. Each classroom has its own playground. The halls are color-coded to help students navigate the building — yellow walls, for instance, lead to the school buses. Signs with arrows and pictures tell them which way to go to play basketball in the gym.

“It’s all about flexibility,” Schmidt says.

Some students need residential care for the rest of their lives. Others can eventually return to their home school districts.

All can attend Hope up to age 22.

“For those children, it is preparing them for life after Hope. That might be life at a group home. It might be life living with family members and holding down a job in a community. And we place a lot of emphasis on assessing the needs and the potential of each child.”

Occupational therapy prepares them for potential employment.

They grow plants in a greenhouse on campus and sell the products at a local farmer’s market. Job coaches teach them routine tasks such as operating a machine or putting pegs in holes. They work their way up to stocking shelves at a grocery store, working a cash register or serving meals at a restaurant.

They also practice cooking, eating dinner at the table and making the bed or doing the laundry.

The key from age 14 and beyond is to be as independent as possible, says Cliff Hathaway, principal of the Hope School Therapeutic Learning Center. “We lay the foundation here,” he says, and help students take step by step into adulthood.

The institute has come a long way from being financially strapped and programmatically adrift five years ago, according to Schmidt. By next year, the institute expects to achieve all of its goals of opening a one-stop shop for medical services, expanding existing facilities, opening an autism school in Chicago and creating an autism network.

The network started with a state-sponsored project created by the General Assembly in 2003. Money trickles down from the Illinois Department of Human Services, filters through the Hope Institute and disperses among a variety of community providers belonging to the Autism Program.

Known as TAP and headquartered in Springfield, the network includes 12 centers throughout the state and connects doctors, educators, counselors and families.

The catch is that the program enters into the state “budget battle” every year, but Schmidt says the community partners that make the decisions don’t reinvent the wheel. They use the state grants to work with universities and other organizations so they can establish more regional centers across the state.

The ultimate goal is to find ways to help students reach their highest potential, recognizing that each child on the spectrum is unique.

Illinois Issues, September 2008