Summer 05

Teaching Teachers About Autism

The state’s only comprehensive pediatric autism program at IUSM will teach Indiana educators and other professionals how to better support children having the disorder.

The Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center at Riley Hospital for Children recently launched Helping Answer Needs by Developing Specialists in Autism (HANDS in Autism). The program was established with a $468,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the CSATC and Clarian Health Partners, creating an intensive training program that will initially be geared to teachers, administrators and other personnel in local school districts.

“Those completing HANDS in Autism training will receive intensive, hands-on experience in a mock classroom setting and will be better equipped to effectively teach these children,” says Naomi Swiezy, Ph.D., clinical director of the Sarkine Center and associate professor of psychiatry.

“Ultimately, we want to expand the program to reach caregivers in communities throughout Indiana and to raise awareness about this disorder,” says Dr. Swiezy, adding the CDC grant will enable her and her colleagues to get the right resources and training to those who work regularly with children with autism in various environments.

Information about the program has been distributed to private pediatricians, libraries and all Clarian facilities in central Indiana, primarily at Riley Hospital, Indiana University Hospital and Methodist Hospital.

Established in 2003, the CSATC – one of the largest of its kind in the nation – actively treats more than 800 children and is the only pediatric academic and research program in Indiana. It also provides consultation and services to patients from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. U.S. Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana was instrumental in securing funding to establish the center.

It is estimated that 38,000 Hoosier children have autism, according to a source at the Autism Society of Indiana. Nationally, more than 1.5 million children and adults are said to have the disorder, which affects the normal development of the brain.

Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities, notes Dr. Swiezy.

For more information about the open houses, call 317-274-4887. To learn more about the Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center, go to www.iupui.edu/~psycdept/autism.