Doug Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 27, 2003 12:00 AM
MESA - When a stranger compliments Lisa Cook on the manners of
her 5-year-old son, Cook's first thought is always the same.
"I think, 'If you only knew what we went through to get here,' " she
said of the effort that she and her husband, Phil, have put into
therapy for Trevor, who was diagnosed with autism at 25 months but
is now fully "mainstreamed," attending all-day kindergarten in the
Gilbert public schools.
The Cooks say they couldn't have done it without H.O.P.E. Group, a
Mesa agency that specializes in aiding families of children with
autism. The agency works to set up home-based therapy programs that
emphasize teaching language skills to the children.
H.O.P.E., or Honoring and Optimizing the Potential in Everyone, is
sponsoring a workshop March 7 and 8 in Phoenix for parents and
professionals, seeking to raise awareness that "these kids don't
have a life sentence," as Lisa Cook says.
The workshop's presenter, Mark Sundberg, is known for using the
techniques of Applied Behavior Analysis to achieve learning gains
with children often thought to have little chance of avoiding
institutionalization. Lori Cairns, the co-founder of H.O.P.E. Group,
knows of the despair felt by such families - and of the
possibilities.
"I live with a miracle," she said of her 9-year-old son, now a
third-grader in the Kyrene Elementary District. "No one would ever
know that when he was 2, he had the language skills of a
9-month-old, which is basically nothing.
"I was told that he was autistic, mentally retarded and that he'd be
in an institution by the time he was a teenager. How many parents
just accept that?"
The Cooks didn't when they were given a similar prognosis for
Trevor, who received more than 35 hours a week of therapy, much of
it home-based, from the age of 2. Cairns estimates that the annual
cost of a home program is $30,000 a year, and she's concerned that
stiffer financial requirements being considered by the state
Department of Developmental Disabilities would leave many families
behind.
"These children can learn, you just have to find the right way to do
it," Cairns said.
"Autism is a spectrum disorder, and some will do better than others.
But these children need to be given a chance."
Information on H.O.P.E. Group or the autism workshop: (480)
610-6981.
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