New autism clinic opens at Riverton hospital, offering early intervention services
Lily is a 13-year-old Swiftie with dreams of being a singer and actress despite being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at a young age.
While she is now a happy, energetic teen, Lily's parents still remember the early challenges she faced with a severe sensory disorder — which can be common among children with autism — that required her to use a feeding tube at just 16 months old. Over the next few years, Lily underwent occupational therapy to overcome her struggles with food and teach her how to eat solids. At around 3 years old, she had her first breakthrough, according to her father, Roger.
"She had a Cheerio. She took a bite of it, and didn't make it to the hole in the Cheerio, but she swallowed it. She got it down. We were super excited," Roger said.
Lily's experience overcoming her struggles through early therapeutic intervention demonstrates the kind of outcomes the new Applied Behavior Analysis Clinic at Primary Children's Hospital in Riverton hopes to make possible for other children with autism.
The clinic, which opened earlier this year, held a celebratory ribbon-cutting on Tuesday. Administrators there say it aims to address the need for more autism services in the area by offering early intervention programs for children ages 2 to 6, such as behavioral assessments, individual therapy and group therapy.
Katie Maday, service line director for Developmental Pediatrics and Autism Services at Intermountain Health, explained that the growing need for these services currently outpaces the number of programs available for children with autism.
"We are currently looking at 1 in 36 children who will be diagnosed with autism nationally, which equates to 25,000 children in Utah alone. That means that the need for services and supports is absolutely staggering compared to the supply of available providers in our service area," she said.
Maday said the focus for her department is to increase capacity, train providers and open new services to meet the demand.
"Meeting demand is so crucial because we know that when we don't have enough supports, our children wait for services that they need to thrive, and that waiting time can impact outcomes," she explained.
Children with autism who receive early intensive behavioral intervention have fewer challenges with communication and severe behaviors and a lower incidence of intellectual disabilities, according to Maday. The new clinic will be part of the effort to expand access to autism diagnostics and early behavioral intervention services that patients need to thrive.
Intermountain Healthcare's Primary Promise campaign raised over $600 million to fund the new autism clinic. During Tuesday's ceremony, the owner and founder of luxury blanket company Minky Couture, Sandi Hendry, announced a $3 million donation to the campaign to support autism services.
Hendry explained that when one of her grandchildren started showing signs of autism at a young age, he was placed on a waitlist for over two years before receiving a diagnosis. She said that personal situation is what motivated her to become part of the effort to expand these services in Utah.
"I started calling people I knew with autism in their family and, through connections with community, we found the best answers (out) of anything. So when I heard ... that IHC and Primary Promise were doing this new facility for autism, I thought: There are thousands of people that need these answers, thousands of moms that lay in waiting to know, 'What's my next step?' So, I am grateful today to be able to donate this portion, and I pray that as I grow as a business woman, that I will be able to continue to contribute."
Through her company, Hendry previously donated $1 million to Intermountain Health's Newborn Intensive Care initiative. Minky Couture has also donated over 50,000 mini-Minky blankets to infants being treated in NICUs throughout the United States.
Lily and her family were also present at the celebratory event. Her parents each shared their gratitude for those who supported the clinic's opening and have been part of helping Lily overcome the difficult aspects of having autism.
Lily presented Hendry and Primary Promise Executive Campaign Cabinet Co-Chairwoman Gail Miller with pieces of her artwork as a token of appreciation for their financial support.
"I just want to thank Gail Miller and Sandi for helping everyone with autism," Lily said. "Some people with autism have friends that treat (them) different because of it, and we all don't know why. But we're not doing anything wrong; we're just trying to find our way. I just want to say thank you to everyone helping us with autism, and I can't wait to see what you do in the future to help people with disabilities."
While the new clinic is a noteworthy step in helping more families in Riverton and surrounding areas, there is still a need for these services in many Utah communities, according to Maday. This need includes children with autism who demonstrate severe or aggressive behaviors, like self-injury, and require help from a specialized team of professionals.
"We know to be able to meet the capacity needs of the community, we need to expand our diagnostic services so we can get kids diagnosed sooner and into therapy sooner. We also need to expand our early behavioral intervention services," Maday said. "We are (also) looking to expand or establish severe behavior services in Intermountain's geography in Utah. Severe behavior services are very lacking in our geography right now. We have about one location for the whole state, and there's so much need."
For more information on how to support the Primary Promise initiative to expand autism services, visit its website.
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