Downey Mayor, Sean Ashton, to Honor National Autism Awareness Month by Attending Grand Opening of New Autism Center in Downey
Downey, CA (PRWEB) April 26, 2018 -- Downey Mayor, Sean Ashton, and Downey Councilmember, Rick Rodriguez, will be attending the grand opening of the new Downey Center for Autism in honor of Autism Awareness Month. Both will be in attendance on Saturday April 28th at 10:00AM to inaugurate the center with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Following the ribbon cutting is an indoor carnival for pre-registered families and press, with opportunities to learn about this unique new center and its services. The event will be held at the Downey Center for Autism located at 12432 Bellflower Blvd., Downey Ca 90242.
This center is opening in an effort to fill a void within the Downey community. Autism is a developmental disorder affecting more than 3.5 million Americans’ ability to communicate and socialize with others. Since the early 1970’s April has been recognized as national Autism Awareness Month, thanks to The Autism Society who started the campaign.
Given how widespread autism is, (approximately 1 in 68 people have the disorder), chances are that most people will know someone on the spectrum. While autism cannot be “cured,” there are options to help teach a child with autism methods of communication and tactics to interact with others. These options help set a child up for success in life, through school and beyond into adulthood. The only form of therapy recommended by the US Surgeon General and supported by research to treat autism spectrum disorders is the science of Applied Behavior Analysis, often referred to as “ABA therapy.” This is where the Downey Center for Autism comes into play, offering various ABA therapy programs to children and youth.
One family described their experience with ABA therapy with a national autism therapies provider, Autism Learning Partners, and their three children who were diagnosed with autism:
“ABA was the best choice for our family and allowed our children to maintain their personalities while working through the anxiety and sensitivities often found in autism spectrum disorders.”
This family’s three children who underwent ABA therapy eventually went on to be in gifted and talented programs, with one child even attending an international baccalaureate program. Without ABA therapy, this level of independence may not have been possible. “ABA was imperative to their successes,” stated the mother of these three children.
Up until this point in the Downey area, access to ABA therapy was solely available through home-based services. While home-based treatment can be particularly helpful to modify behaviors that occur at home, they often do not have a focus on building social skills with other children. To fill this void, Autism Learning Partners is building a new ABA center for children with autism to work both 1-on-1 with behavior technicians and behavior analysts as well as have the opportunity to work with other children to develop their social skills.
1 This testimonial was solicited from a past Autism Learning Partners client.
Nani Escudero, Autism Learning Partners, http://www.autismlearningpartners.com, +1 818-241-6780 Ext: 295, [email protected]
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