Easter Seals Disability Services

Easter Seals Acts for Autism!

Easter Seals’ Nationwide “Living with Autism Study” Provides Insight into Challenges Parents Face

Autism affects over 1.5 million Americans and their families and services for people living with autism are few and far between. So, what do families need? Thanks to the generous support of MassMutual Financial Group, Easter Seals worked in cooperation with the Autism Society of America to conduct our Living with Autism Study.

The nationwide Easter Seals’ “Living with Autism” Study provides new insight into the ongoing challenges facing individuals and families living with autism, particularly their concerns about the future.

“The study quantifies what we’ve heard anecdotally over the years,” says Patricia Wright, Ph.D., MPH, Easter Seals national director, autism services. “The one consistent message Easter Seals hears from the families we serve -- after the initial apprehension and anxiety of learning their child has autism -- is an overwhelming concern about the life-long supports their child with autism may need to be independent.”

“What happens after high school? What will happen to my son when we are gone? Who will care for him, how will he live, who will make sure he is taken care of? He is completely dependent on us.”

These are just a sampling of the powerful sentiments parents of children with autism shared with Easter Seals during the course of the study. As one of the nation’s largest providers of autism treatment and services, the one consistent message Easter Seals hears from families after the initial anxiety of learning their child has autism is an overwhelming concern about the life-long supports their child with autism will need. For example, when it comes to parents of children with autism...

• Nearly 80% are extremely or very concerned about their child’s independence as an
  adult, compared to only 32% of parents of typically-developing children.
• They’re worried their child won’t fit into society, with few feeling their child will:
• Make his own life decisions (14% vs. 65% of parents of typically-developing children)
• Have friends (17% vs. 57%)
• Have a spouse/life partner (9% vs. 51%)
• Participate in recreational activities (20% vs. 50%)
• They report they’re “financially drowning,” with concerns for their child’s financial future seeming to far surpass the worries of parents with typically-developing children.
• 74% fear their child will not have enough financial support after they die, while only 18% of parents with typically-developing children share this same fear.

“Easter Seals strives to make data-based-decisions,” Wright says. “With this study, the disparities that parents of typically developing children and parents of children with autism experience can now be shared via solid numbers.”

Easter Seals will use the study results to advocate for the life-long services millions of families living with autism desperately need -- including school to work transitions, employment support, residential and community support, and financial planning.  The findings will also help to raise awareness of the ongoing challenges faced by people living with autism.

• View the Easter Seals Living with Autism Study findings  

Easter Seals' Autsim Services: Choice Makes it Possible

Mark, a young man with autism and Asperger's syndrome, joined one of Camp Merry Heart’s travel (TREC) programs when he accompanied a group from the camp on a Caribbean cruise.

Fond of travel, the 24 year-old was able to visit sites he’d never seen with the assistance of camp staff members who accompanied him to various destinations of his choice.  Grateful that Easter Seals’ could make one of his dream trips come true, Mark was able to enjoy the same things that many of us take for granted -- the freedom of independence.

Over the past twenty years, Easter Seals has seen a dramatic increase in the number of children and adults we serve who live with autism.  While research on a national level has shown that more than one in 150 individuals are diagnosed with autism, more one in 94 individuals are diagnosed with autism in New Jersey.

As the nation’s leading provider of services and support for children and adults living with autism and one that currently provides services in New Jersey to more than 200 individuals diagnosed with autism -- Easter Seals understands the crucial nature of early diagnosis and intervention for this lifelong disability that affects a person’s brain functions and challenges his or her communication and social skills and behaviors.

Easter Seals New Jersey has the capacity to serve both children and adults with autism through its various programs, including:

• Adult Training Centers
• Camping and Recreational Services
• Employment Services
• Real Life Choices

While there is no known cause, cure, or single effective treatment, autism is treatable and individuals diagnosed with autism can lead meaningful and productive lives.

Getting the right help at the earliest stage of life can help a child gain the skills needed to be successful, and services for children with autism who “age out” of the school system are critical. 

An urgent need exists for increased funding for services especially for adults with autism to help organizations like Easter Seals to provide help, hope, and answers in the form of personalized services and treatments, to families living with autism today.

Research is ongoing to find the cause and cure of this widespread disorder.  Meanwhile, organizations like Easter Seals continue to provide the highest quality and best services possible to engage in early prevention, and to work with individuals whose “safety nets” disappear once children with autism reach the age at which services are no longer provided on a national, state or local level.

If you’d like to find out more information regarding these programs please call Colin Wiseman, Coordinator Camping and Recreation, Autism Programs at (908) 852-3896 or check out our website at http://www.nj.easterseals.com/.