Te ACC has received two grants through the Michigan
Department of Community Health, used mainly to increase staffing and to purchase and install hardware and soſtware for live video and audio links between the EMU center and anyone with Internet access.
J
on Margerum-Leys, associate dean of the EMU College of Education and Office of Academic Services, says the emphasis on video communication has advantages for families. If one parent brings a child to the EMU autism
center for a therapy session, other family members and the child’s other healthcare providers could observe the session from afar. It not only reduces travel time and expense, but it also reduces the information burden on the accompanying parent who previously would have had to remember and explain the many developments to other members of the treatment team who weren’t present. Recorded therapy sessions and staff meetings can also be educational teaching tools for EMU students who no longer have to be present at the original events. Observation rooms adjacent to treatment rooms in the ACC allow only a limited number of people to
observe professional interactions in person, but if the session is recorded it can be used in classrooms or in many other educational forums (provided parents give their permission). Margerum-Leys and Pamela Lemerand, director of the
ACC, emphasize the importance of organizing resources to reduce the burden for families dealing with autism. “What we’re poised to do is to help be a clearinghouse
and help people work together,” Margerum-Leys says. “What we want to be in the middle of, is determining which way is forward and working collaboratively with other folks in the community. ... It’s knowing who the other players are, and really thinking about how best to work together.” Lemerand says what sets the EMU center apart from most
private clinics is its emphasis on family. “Te disorder of autism affects every single member of the family. Oſtentimes, the best intervention you can give toward a child is really to support the parents in their parenting role and their understanding of autism and autism intervention. ... Te life of parenting a child with autism is an exhausting experience. It is very stressful to marriages, it is stressful to siblings, and so we try to support that kind of wraparound intervention. Te newest grant will allow us
Future teachers studying autism at EMU are able to get involved and really understand how to work with students who fall on the autism spectrum.
20 Eastern | SPRING 2013
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