GETZVILLE, N.Y. (WKBW) — April is Autism Awareness Month and April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. The dates are recognized as efforts to address the misconceptions about autism and to break the barriers when it comes to access to resources.
One of the most important parts of a child living with autism's development is early intervention.
Here in Western New York, The Summit Center is one of the few remaining early intervention programs around. One of the families in the program is the Christopher Family. Their son, Cooper, has been in the program since his diagnosis at just under two years old.
"Cooper is just such a joy to be around," Cooper's Mom, Molly said. "He’s a funny guy. He’s so smart. And he’s got such a big personality."
Now five years old, Cooper loves his music tunes and geography. He's able to name all 50 states, their capitols and many countries around the world. This Cooper is a complete 180 compared to where he was before his diagnosis.
"We started noticing that he didn’t have any words. He wasn’t making eye contact with us the way our daughter did or any of the other kids that we interacted with," Christopher said.
In 2022, the CDC reported an estimated one in 54 children in the United States were diagnosed with autism.
For boys like Cooper, they are four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Immediately after his diagnosis, Cooper began the early intervention program that included speech therapy, social and play skills training.
"Early intervention is critical," Early Intervention Program Coordinator Stacey Chambers said. "If students have the opportunities to begin instruction in early intervention before they go to preschool. That can impact the placements that are available to him in preschool which could then in turn impact the placements that are available for them in kindergarten."
Knowing the signs of autism is one part that can help parents get a head start on any sort of diagnosis. Some of those signs include not responding to their name, avoiding eye contact, repetitive movements and limited speech.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends all children 18 to 24 months old should go through autism screenings no matter whether they are exhibiting signs or not. That early response by parents can have a great impact on a child's development.
"We find that the more parent involvement we can have with these very young learners the more progress we're able to see across their development," Chambers said.
While autism is seen as something in a negative light, Christopher says through her experiences with Cooper, it's nothing harmful at all. For her family, the best thing about Cooper is celebrating each step of development they have.
"It’s just the little things that you have to focus on," Christopher said. "What your wins are and focusing on meeting them where at. There’s still so many opportunities and they still have a long way to go and there’s still so much to learn and experience with them."
You can learn more about the early intervention programs at the Summit Center here.
