Autism Society of Colorado: Day Two

Tuesday--March 23, 2011

Luckily today we were given a later start. Today, we will serve as part of the staff at the Autism Society of Colorado. So at ten we arrived at their office in Lakewood and were each given a desk, armed with a phone, and a notepad. Our task as Bridget and Kim explained was to call treatment centers within the state of Colorado to determine if these centers provided aid to those on the autism spectrum.

This was an eye opening task, and an issue that I had never before considered to be a problem. According to Bridget and Kim, many families with kids on the autism spectrum also have the issue of behavioral problems to deal with, that often they cannot handle alone. However, when they turn to these treatment centers for help, they are often turned away. Unfortunately, this lack of resources is only creating increased difficulty for these families with nowhere to turn. The list of treatment centers was extensive, but the number that actually served adults or children with autism was few and far between.

Around lunch time we moved down the hall to attend a meeting held by ASC called Autism Speaks. This meeting covered the prominence of autism in Colorado and the nation in general. Within the state of Colorado, as they explained, is the 48th lowest in educational funding in the nation--although they are ranked 7th highest per capita. A pediatric dentist, college student, school administrators, bus drivers, parents of children with autism, and various members of the community attended the meeting. However, they were all gathered there for a common reason, to better understand this daunting and prominent disability.

Afterwards, we gathered in the conference room as Kim offered to answer any of our questions regarding the week or the Autism Speaks presentation. As we talked, we covered a variety of questions regarding autism and how it affects the nation. We also learned a lot about the policy side of funding for autism.

Once Kim had covered the list of issues regarding autism we headed out of the office for a late afternoon exploring Red Rocks. Red Rocks is a music venue and amphitheater built into the mountains just on the other edge of the city of Denver. The theater has housed some of the biggest names in music in the world such as Ella Fitzgerald, The Beatles and even MGMT. After exploring the area and taking some pictures from the top of the amphitheater that overlooks Denver, we headed down the road to a rock inlet. There a couple of us rock climbed up into the rocks and took some pictures of Jay.

On our way back to the church, we stopped to pick up some groceries at King Soopers. Then we made a dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese, Maggie’s specialty. As we sat around the table in the Kindergarten room, we told stories and laughed. After a quick cleanup we headed to Starbucks, and Christie and I researched the rest of the activities for the week and write down directions. The rest of our week looks promising!