Neighborhood News To Kick Off Year Of Autism Awareness With Walk On Apr. 11

By Gary Nager & Matt Wiley

As the 21-year owner of your community news magazine, I am proud to announce that the staff here at the New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News has decided to make 2015 our “Year of Autism Awareness.”

According to WebMD.com, “the word ‘autism,’ which has been in use since 1911 (when Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist, became the first person to use the term to refer to one group of symptoms of schizophrenia), comes from the Greek word ‘autos,’ meaning ‘self.’ The term describes conditions in which a person is removed from social interaction — hence, an isolated self.”

But, it was only during the 1980s & ‘90s, that, “the role of behavioral therapy and the use of highly controlled learning environments emerged as the primary treatments for many forms of autism and related conditions. Currently, the cornerstones of autism therapy are behavioral therapy and language therapy.”

For our first foray into being involved as a company in autism awareness, we’ll be teaming up with Behavioral Consulting of Tampa Bay (BCOTB), which has three offices (including one in the Summergate Professional Center behind Sam’s Club in Wesley Chapel), for the 2015 Walk Now For Autism Speaks, which is being held on Saturday, April 11, 9 a.m., at Tropicana Field in downtown St. Petersburg. The walk will feature a half-mile course surrounded by booths from local vendors and fund-raising teams.

Marilyn Prcic, M.S., BCBA, clinical director of operations for  BCOTB Wesley Chapel, explains that the group already has raised more than $7,000 for the walk and was the second highest fund raiser for the event when we went to press with this issue. “We’re really excited to be involved with the walk,” Prcic says. “We’re proud to give back to the families (of autistic children).”

Prcic says that BCOTB works mostly with kids primarily on the autism spectrum and provides verbal therapy.

She explains that 1 in 88 children is diagnosed with autism and wants the community to know and try to show compassion. “You might see a kid on the floor at the grocery store screaming for a candy bar,” she says. “That could be a kid with autism and the parents are doing the best they can. You never know.”

Look for more articles about autism in these pages in future issues. For more info about the walk, visit Walk NowforAutismSpeaks.org.