The Autism Program is a network of services and supports for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families. All of the services and supports are intended to model best practice standards for diagnosis, treatment and support for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, based on current leading research and expert consensus. In 2006, the Autism Program expanded to include two affiliates, which includes The Autism Program Affiliate at Illinois State University.
Currently, The Autism Program at ISU is housed in Fairchild Hall on Dry Grove Street in Normal, Illinois. The primary goals of the facility are to provide services to local children and families, bring faculty together, provide training and supervision to graduate and undergraduate clinicians, support research, and provide an academic and learning environments.
Direct treatment, consultation, and family support service are provided through The Autism Program at ISU. Individual treatment programs are coordinated in the child’s home, school, or in the clinic using evidence-based interventions. Consultation services with parents, families, teachers, other school personnel, as well as collaboration with a variety of community agencies, are also available. Family support groups are run monthly.
TAP ISU is proud to offer social groups for children with ASD. Currently, 3 different in-clinic groups are available for children and adolescents of different ages and we are piloting 1 in-school social skills group. Our social groups focus on developing friendship skills, such as beginning conversations, asking and answering appropriate questions and playing developmentally-appropriate games with others. Additionally, the way that our social groups are designed allows group members to practice individualized goals in a group setting, such as making eye contact with others, addressing friends by name and assuming a leadership role in a group.
In collaboration with the community, TAP ISU currently offers monthly support groups for families and will soon be starting bi-monthly sibling support groups. Additionally, we are beginning a parent-teacher support group. Finally, we offer comprehensive Family Assessment Portfolios that aim to smooth teacher transitions by giving the new teacher a book and DVD starring the child in different settings.
As part of a community planning initiative, TAP at ISU in collaboration with Easter Seals of Bloomington-Normal, the Autism Society of McLean County, the Baby Fold and other community members, is in the process of building their autism collection of books, videos and teaching kits, which will be available to professionals and families. A community resource room is scheduled to open soon.
The Autism Program at ISU is in an exciting phase of expansion. Expansion plans include opening a diagnostic clinic (in collaboration with Easter Seals of Bloomington-Normal), adding a family resource room to increase community collaboration and communication, and offering a parent orientation program for families who have recently received diagnoses.
TAP ISU is housed in the Psychological Services Center, which is staffed by graduate students in school psychology. Students are pursuing either a specialist or doctoral degree in
school psychology. Graduate students serve as primary clinicians, case managers, and supervisors of undergraduate clinicians, and are supervised by Dr. Karla Doepke. Each child’s progress is continually monitored and programs are adjusted as necessary to produce desired outcomes.
Karla Doepke, Ph.D. has worked with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families in a variety of capacities over the last 20 years (e.g., special educator, residential coordinator, family / school consultant, clinic director). She received her PhD in Child Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University, completed an internship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and post-doctoral training at Emory University School of Medicine. She currently is a faculty member at Illinois State University, where she directs the Autism Service at the ISU Psychological Services Center.
Jim Thompson is a professor in the Department of Special Education at Illinois State University (ISU). He received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 1994 and has been employed at ISU since 1995. Jim also worked in public schools in Illinois for ten years as a special education teacher and a school-to-adult-life transition counselor. His primary research interests include support needs assessment and planning, transition planning and self-determination, and family/school collaboration.
