MONROE — April is Autism Awareness Month, and in Green County, there are more options than ever to help children and adults living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

“Bringing awareness of autism is so important in order to provide an accepting and inclusive learning environment and to celebrate the diversity of all students,” said Jolene DeNure, special educator at Northside Elementary in Monroe.

ASD isn’t a singular condition, but rather a wide range of conditions that present challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. Various subtypes include Asperger Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder — Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), and Kanner’s Syndrome, also known as Classic Autistic Disorder. 

Children as young as 18 months can be diagnosed with ASD, which affects children across all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, boys are more than four-times more likely to be diagnosed than girls. The CDC classifies ASD as a developmental disability. According to the CDC, the learning, thinking and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from “gifted” to “severely challenged.” Some people with ASD need continued help in their daily lives, while others may not.

An estimated 1 in 54 American children fall somewhere on the Autism spectrum. Every school district in Green County has programs to help students on the spectrum, and specialized clinics in Madison and Janesville also assist those in the county. In Madison, Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP) has spent more than 25 years researching the disorder and providing treatment and assistance to families. Caravel Autism Health has locations in four Midwestern states, and its Janesville location opened in July 2020.

“As special education teachers, we work collaboratively with families, general education teachers, therapy teams across buildings to provide students with the best programming and educational experience possible,” DeNure said. 

The School District of Monroe is on par with the rest of the country, with a rate of approximately 1 in 53 — there are currently 49 of the district’s 2,600-plus students receiving special education assistance for an autism diagnosis.

“The number of students who have the educational diagnosis of Autism has increased significantly over the years,” said Joe Monroe, Director of Pupil Services for the School District of Monroe. “When I first started in the School District of Monroe in 1998, the district was serving only one student who had the diagnosis of Autism. Since that time, the prevalence of Autism in our schools has increased significantly.”

Over the last five years, the district has seen a steady number of Autistic students. In the 2016-17 school year, there were 38 students in the district with Autism, and for the last three years the district has had 49, 48 and 49 diagnosed students. 

The district currently employs approximately five teachers and 15 paraprofessionals that provide support to this population of students, Monroe said. “These staff members serve other students with special needs as well, depending on the needs of the students on their caseload.”

Some students with autism can be dismissed if they no longer have a need for special education, but typically their needs are so significant that they receive services until graduation from high school, Monroe said.

“The district is continually exploring ways in which we can improve services for our students in all programs. The autism program has invested a significant amount of time, energy and resources in implementing assistive technology devices to support students with limited communication skills,” Monroe said. “These devices have resulted in incredible gains for our students, and in some cases, led to meaningful communication with others for the first time in their lives. It is incredible to see the work that is being done by the teaching staff and speech/language therapists.”

DeNure is in her first year at Northside Elementary working in the autism program. She spent the last five years as a high school special education teach and co-taught in the autism program during summer school.

“My background is in communicative disorders and I have a passion for helping students navigate and overcome communication barriers,” DeNure said. “In our classroom, students use augmentative alternative communication (AAC) to communicate and increase overall language development.”

AAC comes in many different forms, according to DeNure. It can be a dedicated device (“talker”), a communication book, a core-board or a switch. 

Kim Wunschel, Clinical Director at Caravel Janesville, has been working in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis for more than 20 years and previously worked with WEAP, as did many of her coworkers. She and her team provide both a central location for therapy studies, as well as in-home therapy where they work with children in a variety of skills, from academic to social and self-help. Caravel Janesville services autistic children in Green, Rock and Walworth counties. There are also two locations in Madison and another in Rockford that aims for Northwestern Illinois residents.

“I just love working with the smaller towns,” Wunschel said, adding that “Dr. Katie Rebedew at the Monroe Clinic is amazing. She gives us so many referrals.” 

About 14 Caravel clients are Green County residents, ranging in age from 3 to 11 years. 

“We have three kids from Green County that drive here every single morning and stay anywhere from 8 or 8:30 in the morning to 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon to get that 1-on-1 therapy. And we do in-home, so our other clients can also get the 1-on-1 therapy, too,” Wunschel said. “We do work with 18 months, and out of Janesville we go up to about 13 (years). Caravel services up to adulthood, but at the Janesville location, we just don’t have that experience down here.”

Wunschel checks on all of the students in their home at least once a month. She said that a goal at Caravel would be to eventually open a Monroe location, which would help cut down the drive time for many families. “We need to have enough kids so that it is justifiable,” she said.

With more than 21 years under her belt helping children and clients, Wunschel said she is always amazed at the daily progress she sees and takes the effort to heart.

“Every day is just — honestly — breathtaking. Getting to watch these kids that come in with some of that more extreme behaviors, and watching them learn the rules and the skills and the different goals that they’re trying to work on … You can always see a small change in each one of these kids,” Wunschel said.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapy used by professionals to increase helpful behaviors in the children, while decreasing behaviors that may be harmful or affect learning.

“What I love about ABA is that it just breaks everything down into teachable steps for these kids, like anywhere from learning how to literally put on a coat to drinking out of an open cup,” Wunschel said. “It’s one of my favorite programs to reach kids and watch them learn — and potty training, oh my gosh, I’ve done so much potty training.”