Trinity Services Autism and Family Resource Center

We have realized that the need for quality empirically supported treatment will continue to grow though the funds do not seem to grow with the need for services. As an agency, Trinity Services, Inc. has been forced to cut budgets and spending due to the state budget crisis, therefore making services difficult for parents to obtain for their children. Diagnostic evaluations are comprehensive evaluations to provide families an understanding of children’s strengths and deficits and will assist in future planning. Since Open House in July 2008, we have successfully completed twenty-two diagnostic evaluations. Intensive toilet training services are provided by experienced staff who provide training and support for parents/caregivers, carefully monitor progress on a daily basis, and adjust procedures based on the needs of the individual. There are two toilet training cases on going, along with family counseling. With Individual Skill Acquisition, Trinity staff use parent input and data based assessments to select target skills and then teach parents how to implement protocols using Behavioral Skills Training (instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback). For the service of individual skill acquisition, there is one case ongoing. Empirically based interventions are used to teach social skills to small groups of individuals with similar needs. The parent training component allows parents/guardians to promote generalization of the targeted skills. Unfortunately, the social skills group has not been able to get started due to financial reasons but there have been eleven children assessed and waiting to begin. A challenging behavior for a child is also a challenging behavior for the family. Interventions are selected according to best practices and data based assessments. There is a focus on training parents and caregivers to implement inventions in the natural environment. There are currently five children receiving services to help reduce challenging behaviors. Our agency has reached out and educated a total of sixty-five teachers within the area, by either going to their school or the teachers coming to our facility for in-services. The parent support group is open to any parent needing support in dealing with a child with autism or any other developmental disability. There have been 28 parents in attendance at the monthly meetings. An extremely beneficial service offered by our agency is an orientation for parents, caregivers, grandparents, etc of newly diagnosed children of autism. Twenty parents, caregivers, grandparents, etc have attended the three week program, educating themselves on autism and other developmental disabilities and learning how to cope with such a diagnosis. Approximately thirty persons from the local and surrounding communities have utilized the family resource room by checking out books, learning aids, educational games and obtaining any additional resources that would be beneficial to their particular situation.