Trending
LISBON – Help Me Grow (HMG) was formed from several programs that were assembled under one umbrella of service in 2001, said Julie Shea MSW, LSW.
Shea is the early intervention manager for the Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities and works from an office in the Robert Bycroft School.
It is funded under the Ohio Department of Health and has two major components that focus on identifying autism – early intervention and home visiting.
Shea said, “We can start doing assessments at 18 months … and it could be identified as early as six months.”
The program receives referrals from families and doctors.
“We always talk about our families,” she said, “we have approximately 90 in the home visiting program and 70 in the early intervention program.
“It’s all families, we serve 3 (years old) and under and it’s all in the home. The only time they come here is for assessment for early intervention and we want to work with them in a family environment.”
The assessments take about and hour and the HMG staff is trained to evaluate children suspected of having autism with a “play-based assessment” where the findings are shared with physicians from the Salem Comprehensive Pediatrics who are also trained on the medical component of an autism evaluation.
The HMG staff from the county board of developmental disabilities and the Educational Service Center joined the Autism Diagnosis Education Project (ADEP), a statewide project administered by the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence in collaboration with Akron’s Children’s Hospital Family Child Learning Center.
Once evaluated by the local “team” the child will be referred to the local ADEP medical partner to either rule out autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or not.
Teams are often comprised of a variety of specialties and providers like occupational therapists, a speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, social worker nurse, developmental specialist, early intervention specialist, service coordinator and medical doctor.
“The local HMG program consists of 10 staff members of which two are part-time,” Shea said. And with the majority of funding from the state, Shea added, “I write the state grants.”
There is a $3,300 average per family per year.
Shea said, “My program is only to 3 and we want to make sure they have preschool in place. I think almost all schools have programs in their district.
“After three years we do a transition,” Shea explained, hooking them up with pre-school services through the county ESC.
“Then after pre-school they enter into the regular school system so the kids are out there and in their own communities,” she said.
Since getting the HMG program moving, Shea said they have completed 45 evaluations and 80 percent of them have been boys.
“Autism services are important and an increasing number for us, but it is only a small percent of what we do and/or the families we serve,” Shea said.
She said it takes a certain kind of person to work in the developmental disabilities field.
“A calling or a gift … whatever it is,” she said. “For the HMG staff, it’s about building relationships with the families we serve. It’s a joy to watch a child (baby) and family grow during our short time with them.
“Last October, I attended the Crown Theater Production of the Little Mermaid Jr., a special needs production. It was so heart warming to see children (and families) that are currently in our program as well as past children and families performing in the play. It was wonderful!
“I work with a wonderful group of ladies. We’re here to support families. We want to be able to offer help. We really try to do a lot of outreach.”
For more information on the Help Me Grow and other programs and services, visit www.facebook.com/ColumbianaCountyHelpMeGrow.