Adults with Autism require highly specialized Services delivered in a consistent and predictable manner.  

“The blossoming of success one individual at a time.”

The very name of this newly established service provides a sense of our vision. The concept of Anthesis, defined as a flower at its most beautiful and productive, is the goal for persons served as each strives to discover and work toward his/her potential.

People with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) characteristically have very individual diagnostic profiles with symptoms falling in the areas of communication, socialization, and imagination/restricted interests.  Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or daily routines and unusual responses to sensory experiences. Most notable is the impairment in communication and social interaction, a far-reaching challenge which impacts daily activities and relationships at home, in the community, and at the worksite.

PVW’s Anthesis Autism Services (AAS) will function to provide adults diagnosed with ASD (and those meeting the criteria through manifested characteristics) access to resources designed to address their lifelong challenges in the areas of social and communication skills.  Program planning, intervention and implementation will be individual and designed according to recommendations, evaluations and significant resources and strategies considered through the Interdisciplinary Team Process (IDT). 

 Through a uniquely tailored cafeteria of services for people with ASD, the intent of the program is to connect adults to resources and strategies that target and shape desired behaviors and responses in an effort to encourage the individual to generalize and practice desired behaviors and responses in the home, the community, the worksite and other areas of daily living.  Approaching the "social impairment in ASD" as a shared impairment, AAS will work to improve social understanding on both sides of the social equation. Through information and referral, materials and resources, consultation and grants, PVW’s goal is to serve the variety of needs experienced by people with ASD and those working on their behalf.

 In assisting individuals as they move toward greater independence and increased community access and inclusion, services may include but are not limited to training in the following areas:   development of social skills, communication skills, leisure/recreational skills, community inclusion skills and executive functioning skills. Moreover, services may include specialized assessments of skills focused on vocational preparation which may lead to job/work readiness training which is outside those services provided through traditional supported employment services.  This might include areas such as independence, decision making, social and other skills needed to become successful in the work place.  (Services focused on job development, placement and ongoing job coach support will be provided through a separate Anthesis service - supported employment group and individual placement.)

 In short this program is designed to aid the consumer in making important steps toward achieving what is most important in their lives as they learn to work around or tackle the barriers interfering with skills necessary for one to pursuit a balanced life. The skills are inclusive of, but not limited to, social, communication, leisure, recreation, pre-vocational, community inclusion, and executive functioning. Anthesis Autism Services provides the consumer with patient, supportive, trained staff that will assess the barriers, acknowledge and respect consumer’s barriers as challenges, and allow consumers to progress at his/her pace through the implementation of protocols tailored to assist the individual in overcoming the barriers through a systematic process. Skill development will empower adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders by allowing access to the most inclusive experiences as they interact with people and environments.

Roneice Parchment, Autism Specialist

roneice@pvwonline.org

(909) 624-3108