| Families seeking timely autism evaluations for their children face many obstacles on the path towards supportive services. Among those challenges are a lack of regional providers trained to diagnose autism and long waitlists for evaluations. Unfortunately, the challenges don’t end there. After a child receives a diagnosis, families must figure out how to navigate complex networks of services for autistic children with services often having different eligibility requirements, wait times, and points of access. In 2022, CTC launched a program to specifically support families obtaining an evaluation. We received funding from Washington State’s Developmental Disabilities Administration’s Dan Thompson Memorial Fund to offer onsite autism evaluations for families, partner with other community providers for autism services, and to train dedicated CTC staff in ensuring neurodiversity-affirming practices are in place across the organization. More than 100 staff across CTC recently completed this multi-day training, which is great news for the children and families we serve. We are excited to build the program and reach more children and families in the year ahead! |
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