WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. -- Tuesday, April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. In light of that, we visited two programs on Maryland's Eastern Shore that work directly with special needs students and adults.
At the Cedar Chapel Special School in Snow Hill, technology plays a huge role in building critical communication skills.
"Because of the communication gaps, sometimes students are trying to tell us the best way they know how, in whatever they're trying to share with us," said Principal Belinda Gulyas.
The school utilizes augmentative alternative communication, or AAC. It consists of "non-tech" tools, such as cork boards. On them are everyday words that a student can point to if they aren't able to verbalize a thought or emotion.
They also use some pretty neat technology, such as iPads or different tablets that allow a student to dive even further into a conversation.
"For some of our students, AAC is their primary mode of communication," said Sarah Michalak, a speech language pathologist at Cedar Chapel. "So they really depend on these devices to communicate their thoughts, their wants, their needs."
Gulyas said the program, much like people with autism, is not one-size-fits-all.
"What we do is we try to pair up the strategies and implementations that our students need in order to pair where there might be that missing communication piece with what they're trying to tell us," said Gulyas.
Once a student leaves Cedar Chapel, they may find themselves at the Worcester County Development Center, working towards a career.
"That could be us on the job with them side-by-side job coaching, that could be us checking in, you know, a couple times a month," said WCDC Executive Director Stephanie James.
Much like Cedar Chapel, the WCDC puts an emphasis on furthering a persons ability to express emotion.
"We have so many individuals who just flourish in art classes," said James. "When they find the type of art that makes them tick, they are experiencing huge amounts of cognitive growth and huge improvement in their social skills because they have a new outlet to express themselves."
Looking ahead to the next few years, Gulyas said class sizes remaining small is a must, ensuring students can get the necessary attention. Cedar Chapel's class sizes at the moment are between 5 and 7 students.
At the WCDC, James said as a non-profit, donations are key to expanding programs.
"We also hope to in the future begin providing culinary arts and horticulture so that people can sort of explore those avenues too," said James. "We just try to help them find what works for them, what makes them tick."
Two programs, viewing autism as more of a superpower, than a barrier.