Little Star Celebrates Ten Years of Serving the Needs of the Autism Community in the State of Indiana – Official Press Release

Press Release – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:          Amanda Ryan

Community Outreach & Marketing Director

317.249.2242   |   [email protected]

Little Star Center Celebrates Ten Years of Serving the Needs of the Autism Community in the State of Indiana

2012 Marks a Decade of Providing Autism Services to Children and Young Adults

CARMEL, IN, March 13, 2012 – Little Star Center, a non-profit center for children with autism, is celebrating its 10th year serving the needs of the autism community in Indiana. Little Star was the first center to offer intensive applied behavior analysis services in the state. While there are several ABA centers and in-home providers in the state now, most can be directly linked back to Little Star.

Little Star Center was founded by Amy and Steele Gudal, parents who, at the time, had no options for their daughter with autism with regards to specialized treatment.

“Credit has to be given to the Gudals for doing something that had never been done before in Indiana. They were truly trail blazers,” says Mary Rosswurm, Executive Director of Little Star Center. “We are looking forward to another decade of setting the standard for autism therapy in the state of Indiana.”

Based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Little Star provides an atmosphere where children, therapists and families can interact, support each other and receive on-going training so that each child can reach their full potential at home and in a variety of settings outside of therapy. After decades of research, the United States Surgeon General has endorsed intensive behavioral intervention for individuals with autism as the treatment of choice. Over 50 years of research documents the efficacy of ABA in reducing inappropriate behavior and increasing communication and learning.

Little Star Center Carmel opened its doors in September, 2002 and since then has opened a location in Lafayette in March, 2011.

About Little Star Center

Little Star Center is a truly unique and special place for children and families affected by autism. Little Star offers intensive daily one-on-one individualized ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy that allows access to peers, a state-of-the-art facility, and full-time BCBA supervision.

For more information please call 317.249.2242 or visit us on the web to learn more at www.littlestarcenter.org.

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Little Star Center Provides First Responder Training

Indiana requires law enforcement and other “first responders” to complete one hour of autism-specific education each year. While this amount of time is clearly not adequate, it does at least offer some information to officers, paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and firemen about persons with autism.

The Purdue University Police Department recently contacted Mary Rosswurm, Little Star’s Executive Director, and inquired if Little Star (LSC) could provide their department with a training on autism. As Mary has an adult son with autism, as well as serves on the Indiana Commission on Autism, which helped enact the First Responder Training Act, she was very eager to help. The training occurred in West Lafayette and was divided into two sessions of 16 officers each.  Police Sergeant Keene Red Elk specifically requested training by LSC, because the video recorded training they received the year prior was not interactive and did not address the many questions that the officers had about autism.

The instruction focused on identifying individuals with autism and general tips and strategies on how to assist them during emergencies and crisis situations. Teaching law enforcement to identify individuals with autism is difficult, as they have limited time to interact with the person and must assess the situation quickly. The training focused on the social, communication, behavioral and sensory issues commonly seen in people with autism. Within each of the topic  areas, they discussed possible situations requiring interaction with law enforcement.  The group also discussed supports and strategies that could be used to assist officers in dealing with the challenges that are typical to persons affect by autism.

The police officers had many questions about communicating with non-verbal individuals with autism. Tim Courtney, LSC Research & Training Director, conducted the program and  demonstrated the Proloquo2go, which is an iPad communication application that is becoming increasingly popular among non-verbal persons with autism. Several of the learners at Little Star currently use these devices. Department personnel discussed possibly purchasing an iPad with Proloquo2go to facilitate communication with individuals with autism that are non-vocal.  Tim discussed the limitations and extensive training needs for individuals to communicate with assistive devices and noted the willingness and commitment of the Purdue University Police Department.

“I presented examples of tragic situations in which interactions with police officers resulted in fatalities or injury,” said Tim. “I reviewed the positional asphyxia risks of physical management with individuals with autism. Individuals with autism can have underdeveloped trunk muscles and can suffocate when pressure is applied to their chest.  I was surprised some of the officers were not aware of the positional asphyxia risk.”

One interesting area specific to the Purdue Police Department was addressing behavior exhibited by individuals with autism attending the University. The officers presented examples of behavior, based upon the presentation they now thought may have been exhibited by an individual with autism. The group brainstormed possible ways to deal with these situations should they arise again. This led to a discussion on how to best work with parents of newly enrolled students with autism. The police officers felt having the parent or caregiver visit the police station and provide essential information about their student would be a good practice. The information could be plugged into the 911 database and easily accessed if needed.

“It was a pleasure to spend time with these officers,” said Tim. “I look forward to working with them to help ensure that Purdue University is a safe and enjoyable environment for all its student body.”

After the Purdue training, Tim was invited to train the Tippecanoe County Crisis Intervention Team.  Purdue University law enforcement is one of four area police departments participating in the Tippecanoe County Crisis Intervention Team.  The Crisis Intervention Team is a community partnership of law enforcement officials, mental health professionals, mental health consumers and their family members.  Other area police departments include Lafayette, West Lafayette, and the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department.  Training consists of a full 40 hours and covers mental illnesses, development disorders and treatments, psychotropic medications, methods of approaching a crisis situation, suicide prevention, techniques for de-escalating the crisis and available community resources.  The Crisis Intervention Team model was developed in Memphis, TN in 1988 following the tragic death of a person with mental illness in crisis.  The model has since been adopted by communities across the U.S.

 

About Tim:

Tim graduated with a Masters of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) in 2006 and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst that same year. He has worked as a behavior analyst since 2003 with different organizations across the United States. In addition to his work as a behavior analyst, Tim has been a co-instructor in the ABA department of FIT since 2007. His research interests includes functional assessment, medical and dental avoidance and escape behavior, verbal behavior, and dissemination of the science of Applied Behavior Analysis. Tim is currently working on his Ph.D. in Special Education at Purdue University.