By Sharon Draeger, Project Manager
We’ve all heard the saying, “Great minds think alike.” But do they really? If you know about autism, then you know this saying is not quite accurate. This is why the Behavioral Pediatric Resource Center is important. The non-profit organization has a clear mission: to educate and provide awareness on Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and anxiety.
The Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center was created by Michelle Zeanah, MD. She chose to leave general pediatrics to focus her attention on the children that needed her most. With the vision to support children with autism and ADHD she opened Behavioral Pediatrics of Rural Georgia in 2016 but she did not stop there. Noting gaps in knowledge of autism and ADHD within the community, she created the nonprofit Behavioral Pediatric Resource Center in 2018.
According to Zeanah she started the Resource Center because “I saw that my patients needed the adults in their lives to understand their diagnosis. If my patients needed an advocate how many other children did? They weren’t bad kids, and they needed their parents, teachers, and others to understand them.” Meeting this need is one of the main functions of the Resource Center.
What does the Behavioral Pediatric Resource Center do?
While April is Autism Awareness/Acceptance month, the Resource Center stays busy all year.
We provide education at community events such as the Firecracker Festival, The Picnic for Protection, Tormenta FC Soccer, Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA, and others. We are at the Statesboro Farmer’s Market every Saturday in April sharing information and strategies to work with children with special needs such as autism.
We don’t stop there. Educating and training is a large part of the work we do. The list of trainings provided includes the Department of Family and Children Services, Department of Juvenile Justice, The Bulloch County Recreation Department After School and Summer Camp programs staff, over 950 foster parents, and the list continues to grow. Our next project involves collaboration with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s office and the Statesboro Police Department. The Resource Center also has a website and Facebook page. The website www.behavioral-pediatrics.org has information and resources for families, educators and community members about autism, ADHD, anxiety and more. In the near future we plan to add videos that will bring awareness and give strategies for working with children with Autism, ADHD and/or anxiety.
So Why Does Awareness and Acceptance Matter?
The Mirriam Webster Dictionary defines awareness as “knowledge and understanding that something is happening or exists”. It is important to understand that the brain works differently in someone with autism or ADHD. There are no physical characteristics that can point out someone with a neurodiverse disorder. Autism doesn’t have a look. That’s why it is important to be aware that Autism is real and according to the Center for Disease Control has been identified in about 1 in 36 children in 2020 as being on the autism spectrum. That makes autism spectrum disorder more common than having green eyes.
Think about the last time you saw a child in the store having a tantrum. The child is screaming and may be hitting themself or throwing things. The parent is standing there in utter stress and embarrassment. Our assumption is the child isn’t getting their way or the toy the child wanted. But a child with autism may have reached the point of sensory overload. Bright lights, strong smells, and a variety of noises can send a child with autism into a meltdown. The child isn’t being stubborn or willful. You will be able to tell the difference when the parent hands the child the toy. If the crying and screaming stops almost immediately, then you just witnessed a tantrum. But for a child with autism, the toy makes no difference because it was never about the toy. It was the child’s brain trying to tolerate everything that was going on because this child’s brain was overloaded. Our hope is that as someone seeing this happen you will understand the difference between the tantrum and the meltdown. The meltdown is out of the parent’s control.
There are other characteristics someone with autism may have. For example, not making eye contact or standing too close to another person. Someone with autism may not like to be touched. Communication can be difficult as well. Someone without the awareness of autism may consider some of these things to be rude or a product of poor upbringing. They are not. This is part of why the Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center is committed to bringing awareness to the community. It is imperative to recognize that individuals with autism work and contribute to society. People with autism are different, but they are not without feelings or emotions.
Where Do the Funds for Our Work Come From?
As a non-profit the Resource Center uses money from both donations and grants to bring awareness to the community and throughout the state. Grants take time and effort to write so a major part of donations are used to help support grant writing. The grants are used to fund trainings and projects.
Want to Learn More?
The Resource Center continues to grow, and our website is growing too. Check us out at www.behavioral-pediatrics.org and our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BPRC.Statesboro . Or stop by our booth if you see us at the Farmers’ Market or other community events. We would be happy to share more information with you.
