The sky is the limit for this Autism Department star

Adrienne Robertiello (Autism, Fanwood) goes above and beyond 365 days out of the year. Not only is she a visionary for the Autism Education Department, but also for all of Children’s Specialized Hospital as well as all people with any disability.

Adrienne’s vision is a world that is truly inclusionary and accepting for all. She has a number of creative ideas for how to make her vision become a reality, routinely challenging her colleagues to think outside of the box and question “why not” instead of “why.”  

Using this mentality, Adrienne helped to create a number of programs at Children’s Specialized, such as the Kohl’s Autism Awareness Community Hub, Real Life Tips, Make Friends With Autism, Friends Like You. Friends Like Me., and Autism and Safety.

Initiatives such as Friends Like You. Friends Like Me. have become such valuable resources to our patients and their families because they encourage understanding and acceptance, as well as help aim to reduce intimidation and bullying.

The list of events and programs Adrienne has helped with are endless. From shopping nights for parents of children with special needs and Chalk My Autism to advocacy and training for groups such as afterschool providers and emergency responders, there’s no telling what she’ll do next!

Her dedication doesn’t stop at just our little kids. Adrienne helped to develop a “Teen’s Guide to Understanding and Communicating with People with Autism” in the Community Hub that has helped improve acceptance of teens with ASD by their peer groups nationwide.

Adrienne is a Children’s Specialized Hospital team member who is dedicated to providing the safest and highest quality of care/service to our kids, our community, and to her colleagues.

We are so happy to showcase you this month on Access Amy, and hope to continue to share all of the great work you do in the Autism department.

Do you know someone that should be recognized on Access Amy for something they’ve done at Children’s Specialized Hospital? I’d love to hear! Share below in the comments or send an e-mail to Megan Muller at memuller@childrens-specialized.org.

Local mom proves we have work to do

There has been a local story in Westfield that has gone viral and gotten a lot of media attention. It involves a young boy with Down syndrome and a local, popular gymnastics studio. 

A mother from Cranford reached out to the gymnastics studio to host her son’s fifth birthday party. After successfully reserving the date for the party, mom went to the location to process the contract paperwork and leave the deposit for the party. 

In reading over the contract for the party reservation, she noticed the document stated “no special needs children will be accommodated or can participate.” In further investigating, she learned the reason for this exclusion was because the owner did not have anyone on staff appropriately credentialed in caring for children with special needs; the insurance company wouldn’t write the insurance. 

The mother was outraged, angry, shocked.   

The business decision was made that the expense of having someone with that expertise was not affordable in this business. And while you may be outraged about that, I want to ask you, to hold that thought for a moment, while I tell you the rest of this story. 

We work so hard to show children with special needs that they can accomplish anything, with accommodations, discouraging them from accepting defeat and encouraging them to continue to work hard. 

On any given day, Children’s Specialized also offers services and resources to all families of children with special needs, including how to have fun at community activities. For example, the Kohl’s Autism Awareness Hub is a tremendous source of information, not only for children with autism and their families, but the information can pertain to any child with special needs and their family.

Within The Hub, families can visit resources such as Make Friends With Autism, Friends Like You. Friends Like Me., Autism and Safety, and Real Life Tips. Each section contains fact and tip sheets, educational videos, workbooks, and more to share information about autism and how to understand a child with autism and their needs.

More specifically, The Hub links to a Recreation Center on its map where professionals, service providers, and members of the community can find valuable information on how to graciously accept and support children with special needs into their programs, businesses, recreational activities, and more. Although our Kohl’s Hub focuses primarily on children with autism, this information can very easily be translated into any special needs situation. 

The power of social media is astounding. This mom shared her disappointment on the gymnastic studio’s Facebook page and nearly immediately her post caught attention. She said at least eight other people shared with her that they too were denied access to the gym for the same reason. 

Since her story was shared, the mom has been notified by the owner of the gymnastic studio to update her on their plan of action to better accommodate children with special needs. The company has since made a business decision to hire an individual with expertise in working with children with special needs to educate the staff – fixing the issue on staff training – and will be changing their policy moving forward.   

And I'm happy to say that with the generosity of over a dozen community businesses, this little boy had a wonderful birthday, surrounded by family and friends. A birthday worth remembering.

In hearing this story it made me ask myself a question about our “business” decisions. How many times do we turn kids away because we don’t treat “those” kids with severe mental health issues or suicidal tendencies? We have said, “We don’t have the expertise and we need to ensure that kids who need that type of care get to people most expert in delivering that care.” 

That is the same thing the owner of the gymnastics studio said. And just like that studio owner, we are doing what we think is the right thing, to ensure that children get to the right level of care. But these are not easy decisions. The public pressure made this business owner make other decisions. 

As I thought about this, I wondered what we would do if the tables were turned. I would love to hear your thoughts on how we should ponder these decisions. 

Proud to be at CSH

Recently one of your colleagues shared with me that after reading a weekly wrap up, that she wanted to let me know the CSH Autism program “Friends Like You, Friends Like Me” has reached her neighborhood.

Her daughter came home from school not too long ago with a book all about autism and how children should treat each other. She was so excited about this for two reasons: first she was clearly excited because as she said to her teacher and class "My mom is a nurse at Children's Specialized Hospital and she helps kids there!"

I loved that! Secondly, their family has a relative with a mild form of autism and her daughter was very happy that other kids would be taught how to properly interact with children with autism without as she put it "making them feel like they are different.” Her daughter read through the book given to her and questioned her mom on what she was told and was really happy with what her class was taught.

So it made me think - do you all have a way CSH may have touched your personal life when you least expected it and it made you proud to work with your colleagues?