CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Autism training session coming Sept. 21

Creston News Advertiser - 8/27/2021

Aug. 27—A free, two-hour training session will give parents with autistic children or children suspected of having autism tools on how to stay organized when caring and nurturing their child becomes unpredictable.

Regional Autism assistance Program (RAP) program manager Erika Hertel said The University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital, Child Health Specialty Clinics, Iowa Family Leadership Training Institute, and Regional Autism Assistance Program are offering the Creston Family Leadership Training: Organizing Your Child's Health Care Information and Finding Evidence-Based Resources 5:30 p.m.7:30 p.m.Sept. 21 at the O'Riley Center.

Pizza, cookies and water will be provided, but children are not allowed.

Hertel said care notebooks are crucial for parents raising a child with special needs.

"Families of children with special health care needs, such as autism, get information and paperwork from many sources," Hertel said. "The care notebook is designed to help organize this in a central place. Care notebooks are personal to each child and ideally should be customized to reflect the child's medical history and current information. This may include reports from recent doctor's visits, medications with dates given, dosages, and any side effects, allergies, providers and their phone numbers, school resources such as an Individual Education Plan (IEP), and other needed details and documents."

The training session will also help parents find evidence-based research online in today's rocky digital terrain of misinformation.

"Riley Samuelson, of National Network of Libraries of Medicine, will discuss what families should consider when looking for health information on the internet," Hertel said. "We want families to have accurate information and encourage them to look at evidence-based practices when considering therapy options, knowing there are many out there, their time and money is limited and they want to utilize the ones most likely to achieve goals and desired outcomes."

Some parents might find difficulty navigating the opinions of caregivers with different or sometimes outdated approaches to autism, but Hertel said the course will give parents the necessary skills to make sense of it.

"This topic won't be specifically addressed," she said. "Families can utilize the information they learn about evidence-based resources to share accurate and current information with others."

Hertel stressed this is a free course for anyone who is raising an autistic child.

"This is a free training for parents or primary caregivers of children who have or are suspected of having autism," she said. "It has also been approved for two hours of foster parent training."

Hertel also said seating is limited and COVID guidelines will be followed. Families should contact Amanda Woods, Family Navigator (641) 782-9500 or amanda-woods@uiowa.edu to register by Sept. 20.

___

(c)2021 the Creston News Advertiser (Creston, Iowa)

Visit the Creston News Advertiser (Creston, Iowa) at www.crestonnewsadvertiser.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.