SANTA CRUZ COUNTY > New autism center opens in Aptos
Although nearly one in 88 children are being diagnosed with Autism, quality services aren’t necessarily becoming easier to find.
The I Can Too! Learning Center, a division of Trumpet Behavioral Health (TBH) in Aptos hopes to address this locally. The center is wrapping up construction, and, upon its opening early this month, will begin work to provide Santa Cruz County with a group of professionals who can teach and care for families with Autistic children starting early on in their development. According to Camille Summers-Godfrey, Santa Cruz head teacher for TBH, providing intervention and educational services at a young age for children with developmental delays is imperative to progress and can lessen the need for greater assistance later in life.
There is a “need for quality intervention services in Santa Cruz and other communities,” says Summers-Godfrey. What makes this center unique to others, she adds, is the use of a “multi-disciplinary approach, with experts [who] work in concert to develop the most effective intervention program for each child we serve … Our center will be serving children 18 months to five-plus years in a center-based environment that includes typical peers [as well].”
The center also provides a “support system” to families by offering parent training, resources, and assistance as they come to better understand of life with their child. The staff at the center have come together over their communal “gratification of seeing a child progress from infancy … all the way to adolescence.”
In addition to personalized help, the center also hopes to reach out to the community with a number of complimentary services, including a donation center, developmental screenings, advice for accessing insurance options, and parent workshops.
The center has begun accepting children into classes for June, and is located at 77887 Soquel Drive Suite G in Aptos. For more information, visit tbh.com.
