We believe in inclusivity,” said executive director, Wanda Eddy. To that goal the Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism has recently accomplished their fundraising goal of $7,500.00 for a communication board. The Chris Rose Walk for Autism raised $8,000.00 and donations are still coming in.
A communication board could be described as another tool to increase an individual’s ability to let others — caregivers, peers, teachers — know what the non-verbal individual may require. The board contains symbols, illustrations and even words. Things like a school bus, alarm clock, or even a way to ask for a drink of water or the washroom.
An individual may ask questions, communicate decisions, and make statements.
The board will be placed in the playground area of the Centre. Staff can ask questions through symbols on the board and the children would be able to answer the same way.
Moving toward inclusivity and integration, the Centre is designed to address characteristics of autism through specific therapies. Therefore, each room is designed for a specific developmental and sensory purpose. Speech language therapy and music therapy are key components of the process and in the music therapy room keyboards, guitars and percussion instruments fill the room allowing children to explore sound, through which speech patterns emerge.
Down the hall another room brings life skills to the fore. In this room a ‘dentist’s chair’ is available to allow a child to experience a visit to the dentist, along with things like the tipping of the chair and being laid downward.
Another experience for a child would be getting a hair cut or going to a hairdresser and having their head touched and rubbed. The child can then become adjusted to the feeling of a haircut or their head being touched and hair combed and fussed over.
Opportunities are provided for tasting different foods, as textures and smells can be difficult for children. And if parents request a specific food to be tasted, the centre can introduce the food and build a tolerance and acceptance of that food.
In another room, a ball pit, moving ladder, mats, and special swings promote sensory contact and encourages sensory tolerance.
Colouring is a fine motor activity included in the classrooms area for practice in a school setting. Three rooms resemble classrooms so that skills associated with being in school can be developed. Also, social groups provide a way to build knowledge of social rules. This includes role playing to explore appropriate behaviour within the school and extending to everyday social encounters.
Lastly, there is a ‘cozy corner’ which contains what looks like a small tent, made welcoming with blankets. It is off to the side and in the corner, providing a safe place for a child to take a break.
In the gym the Integrated Physical Programme works on sensory issues using gentle compression, ‘a little at a time.’ explained Eddy.
The playground area is fenced, in part to keep their students safe. It is a boundary set so students can not go walk about and others can not enter unannounced.
The Chris Rose Therapy Center for Autism extends programming on a one-on-one match up when necessary for a child.
One washroom is set up as it might be found in a school or public setting while the other are set up as single room washrooms, to protect the privacy of the child.
Lastly, there is Twinkie, a Chocolate lab therapy dog. Twinkie was trained by Someday Retrievers and then donated to the Centre by Petland and Someday Retrievers. Twinki, provides affection, comfort and support in stressful situations.
The Chris Rose Therapy Centre for Autism is a non-profit, charitable organization operating since 1989. The Centre has assisted families with children requiring extra supports. The programs are funded by a combination of parent fees, the local school district and private schools, community support groups, generous individuals, and fundraising.
Currently the Chris Rose Centre partners with School District 73. There is a teacher who coordinates the children, school and the centre to optimize the integration of the student into the school system. The process begins slowly with the student attending one or two days per week and increases to a full week, explained Eddy.
Autism was once described as the ‘tendency to view life in terms of one’s own needs and desires, as by daydreams, or fantasies, unmindful of objective reality.’
Today autism is understood to be a ‘neuro-developmental disorder’. Behaviours might include, but are not limited to, continuous noise, verbal or nonverbal behaviours, hand flapping, swaying, screeching, and hitting others or themselves.
As Kamloops parents began to travel to Vancouver for answers regarding the behaviour of their children they retuned looking for therapies geared more to an autistic diagnosis treatment.
In 1989 a number of parents with children under a description of ‘development delays’, particularly in speech and non-typical behaviours for young children, began a search for answers. One parent, Marg Spina, researched Giant Steps out of Quebec, a therapy developed by Darlene Berringer in 1980.
Berringer, along with parents, initiated an after-school program centred on music. Seven children on the autistic spectrum began work in a church basement, which became an official school after funding was secured. The Canadian Institute for Neuro-interprative Development, known as Giant Steps, was launched in 1983.
Spina gathered a number of families together who made a commitment to bring the Giant Steps programming to Kamloops. After Berringer visited Kamloops to ascertain the needs of the community and the commitment to the program, Giant Steps West found a home at the Cottonwood Centre in North Kamloops.
Over a number of years Giant Steps West provided sensory therapy following the Giant Steps format from Quebec. However, through the years Giant Steps West struggled with funding. Finally, the staff had been laid off; boxes were packed and the centre was slated to close in 1996.
Chris Rose, a teacher, was retiring. Spina attended his retirement dinner and approached him, asking what he was going to do in retirement.
In short order, Rose was unpacking boxes. Eddy gives all the credit to Rose for saving the Centre. Recognizing the Centre’s value he served as the Centre’s executive director. He founded and chaired the Centre’s foundation and served as Board member of the society which, even today, guides the Centre.
The Chris Rose Therapy Centre For Autism respectfully acknowledge the ancestors and traditional territories throughout British Columbia whose historical relationships continue to this day.