The purpose of the network is to do outreach to bring awareness and acceptance to the community. She said the organization has grown significantly over the past 5 years. She explained the autism spectrum to us from the severely disturbed to the Asperger’s person who can achieve at a high level.
She explained that the AFN does many special events including a parents’ series and events around autism awareness month which is April. They do a Warriors for Autism event and they do a zumba event also at Warriors stadium. They have also dances. They have an annual conference with all the service providers to hook families up with available services and forms of therapy.
Ms Johnson went on say that the AFN also do a safety awareness conference for children to become familiar with public safety employees. They will also be doing a gala in November which we can attend.
There were many questions involving how to recognize the symptoms of autism, the definition, the Morgan center model which is the model they use, mainstreaming, the effects of budget cuts, individual education plans and the children’s learning objectives and daily schedules.