The Pilot Club of Great Bend is sponsoring an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Workshop set for Saturday, April 7, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Barton Community College. The event is open to the public. Teachers and families in Kansas, and especially western Kansas, affected by autism are encouraged to attend.

By hosting the workshop at this time, Pilot Club will help celebrate World Autism Awareness Day observed each year on April 2. World Autism Awareness Day was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 to shine a light on autism as a growing global health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 68 children in the United States has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In planning this workshop, Pilot Club members met with Special Services staff from the Great Bend school district and the Sunflower Early Education Center. Their input about the need for early intervention services, plus the need for teacher and parental awareness of resources for autism’s expanding diagnosis, verified that such an educational workshop is essential. This event helps to fulfill the mission of Pilot Club International which is to help those with brain injuries and disorders, and to improve the communities in which we live.

The purpose of this ASD Workshop is to increase the awareness of available resources, diagnostic testing and appropriate strategies for teachers and families in our communities throughout Kansas, ultimately assisting children and youth with autism to become an asset to their communities.
Interested people can visit the Pilot Club web site, www.greatbendpilotclub.com, for more information as the event is developed. For more information about the Autism Spectrum Disorder Workshop contact Sally O’Connor, 620-786-5572.