Families Dealing with Autism Can Expect Comprehensive Resource Guide

Karlie Watts answers the phone at her job with much more confidence than she ever had in high school. 

“The Burkhart Center – this is Karlie Watts, may I help you?” she states deliberately, as if from a script. 

Karlie is one of many young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders working and receiving job coaching at the Burkhart Center for Autism Education & Research in Texas Tech’s College of Education.

As a child growing up with undiagnosed Asperger’s Syndrome, she didn’t know why she was different than other children, but she knew she was, and so did her mother.

“My dad had it and my grandma had it. I went for years in school not knowing that I did also or why I was not able to do homework very well, or why I would shut down.” Karlie explained. “My mom didn’t know for a long time. She didn’t want to know.”

Taking the Fear Out of Diagnosis

If Karlie’s mom had been able to access comprehensive information about available resources for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), she might not have been afraid to have her diagnosed. Now through a $100,000 grant from the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, the Texas Autism Council and the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, Texas Tech is developing and creating an online statewide resource directory for people with ASD. 

Autism Spectrum Disorders are characterized by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, social interactions and restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior. ASD affect each individual differently and to varying degrees of severity. As many as 1.5 million Americans are thought to have ASD.

According to Robin Lock, co-director of the center, Texas Tech was the only university in the state willing to take on the immense project. “Families seeking information about best-practice interventions and services for individuals with ASD often face enormous obstacles in finding appropriate service delivery,” Lock said.  “An up-to-date, statewide directory of these interventions and services does not exist and families find them themselves stymied in locating appropriate services for their child. This confusion adds tremendous stress to their lives.” 

Putting it All Together

To gauge needs statewide, Lock’s team is sending out an electronic survey to service providers, families, regional service centers and other interested groups. The survey will be available both in English and Spanish.

“The center is working in conjunction with the Neuropsychiatry Department at the Health Sciences Center to research what families need, the existing services available and to produce a reliable, accessible directory to locate high quality, research-based interventions for individuals with ASD,” Lock said. Lock expects the resulting resource directory Web site to be complete by January 2008.

For Karlie, one resource that has helped her live her life more completely, is the one-on-one job coaching she has received from student peers at the center.

“We go to the Learning Resource Center and laminate things, shred paper and answer phones,” said Watts. “That’s a great opportunity for me because I’ve never had experience with things like phones. The girls are really good to me because they come every Monday-Wednesday-Friday and make sure I’m doing okay.”