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The East Petersburg resident and mother of an autistic child searched everywhere to get information to help her son, Ethan, cope with Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.
Tirado said she wanted to simplify the process of finding care-giving organizations, so her group, Autism Spectrums Connections, went about organizing an annual gathering for families of autistic children.
Despite the rain, the Autism Spectrum Disorders Celebration brought out more than 100 people to Stoner Park in Manheim Township Sunday afternoon with the goals of linking parents with service providers and offering a day for children to have fun with their families.
"When you first get that diagnosis, as a parent, I think you're stunned, and you don't know which way to turn," Tirado said. "And to be able to come to an event and know all of these providers are here to give you that information makes it easier."
Autism Spectrums Connections was organized three years ago when four mothers, including Tirado, met to support one another and look for local resources for their autistic children.
Tirado said that when her son was 9 months old, she felt he had some sort of problem. Ethan displayed poor eye contact, was nonverbal, wasn't reaching development milestones and had severe temper tantrums.
Ethan was 4 years old when he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, Tirado said, but it took two years to complete the evaluation. Now in second-grade, Ethan has a tutor at home and at school who helps with socialization and appropriate behavior in public.
Tirado said children are getting diagnosed with autism at ever-younger ages, some as young as 18 months. She said early diagnosis and early intervention are the keys to dealing with many of the problems of autism."The sooner the intervention, the better the result," Tirado said.
For many of the parents, Tirado said, it's a relief to be at an event like Sunday's gathering and not have to worry that their child is going to misbehave in public.
Sunday's activities included several sensory-based games and crafts for children, such as making Silly Putty, stress balls and sand art. There was a table surrounded by children making clay animals, including horses and dinosaurs, with Jen's Pottery Den of Lancaster.
Joshua and Riana Barrington brought one of the horses from their newly opened Barrington Stables in Lititz for use as a therapy tool for children. Children were encouraged to use paint to cover the horse with hand-prints, thereby leaving their mark.
Jackie Hines of Lititz was at the event with her 9-year-old son, Jason, who was diagnosed in June 2003 with pervasive developmental disorder.
Hines, who is the president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Autism Association, said Jason was on an 18-month waiting list to get a physician to address his symptoms.
Jason was developing normally as a baby, Hines said, but when he reached 15 months of age, he started regressing, forgetting words he had already learned and having aggressive temper tantrums and other behavioral issues, such as lining up toys and spinning in circles without getting dizzy.
Hines took her son to a pediatrician and was told just to be patient.
(201) (132) (85) (7) (4)"They kind of wanted (to take) the wait-and-see approach, and I didn't want to wait and see," Hines said. "I wanted to see and not wait, just to see what we were dealing with."
Hines said it took the whole family to deal with Jason's development issues and that parents shouldn't expect that working with a therapist once a day will be all the child needs.
Hines said she put herself into every therapy session with her son so she knew how to work with him. Hines' mother came once a week and gave her a box of occupational therapy items she could use to work on fine motor skills or sensory skill games with Jason, and her husband took care of Jason's physical therapy.
Jason has been fully included in classes since kindergarten, Hines said, and still has speech therapy and direct social skills classes.
Hines said Sunday's event was the perfect opportunity for parents to network with other families.
"Doctors know things, but parents are the ones who are in the trenches, so they are your best resource," Hines said.
E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com
