During the past month, I was out of town on vacation. While I always try to stay connected to work when I am away, it struck me that when a conversation would come up with me being asked what I do for a living (after the initial surprise noting that I am not retired), the conversation would go to a discussion about a friend, a sibling or a neighbor who has a child on the Autism Spectrum.
While we just completed Autism Awareness month at the end of April, the reality is that many people know of Autism, but are unaware of the resources that are in place to help when a diagnosis of being on the spectrum occurs. In my conversations with friends that happened this past month, being a resource to talk to about options was hopefully helpful and maybe even comforting knowing that help and support was available. There is nothing worse than knowing someone needs help and while you want to be supportive, you don’t know where to turn.
When I am provided with the chance to talk about Little Friends in the community, I will often speak to the reality of six degrees of separation, and how what you may know about us or other organizations in the local community can be helpful to the person you are speaking to. As an organization, Little Friends has one of the broadest arrays of services for any organization in the State of Illinois. Our work starts with children age three in our clinic providing therapy, and expands to include two therapeutic day schools, one primarily focused on working with children on the autism spectrum through age 22.
In addition to the children’s services, we have an array of adult services that include day programming, employment services and supports, social groups and respite services, as well as residential services that include 48 homes, three for children and the balance for adults. Finally, we help individuals with physical disabilities through our work with the Illinois Independent Living Center located in Naperville.
All told, when including the work of our Family Care team which helps families find the right resources, we annually touch the lives of 2,500 children, adults, and families with either direction to resources or providing direct services and supports. Big picture, our goal is to help individuals with disabilities achieve a level of independence they may not have without our support and in doing this have a quality of life we believe all individuals deserve.
If you are reading this, it is highly unlikely that you will remember all the things that Little Friends does and offers to the individuals we serve. But if you find yourself in a conversation with a friend or loved one, remembering that we are here and can provide help or direction is really what is important. Our commitment to the community is that we’ll do our best to either provide support or point that friend or loved one in the direction they need.
