Adult Day Programs are crucial, even in small communities.
“Without this, without Balance, Alan doesn't get much, if any, social interaction with people outside of our family,” explains Jodi, Alan’s mom.
Alan, who is 22, has autism and is considered to be nonverbal, although he speaks some words. Alan can communicate well through typing whereas his younger brother, who also has autism, cannot.
Alan started at Balance in 2019 and was coming to the Adult Day Program two full days a week through 2020. Unfortunately, due to staffing challenges, there has not been any room for Alan for the past two years in Balance’s Adult Day Program. “So Alan has been pretty isolated and spends a lot of time on his computer looking at the Balance website. A LOT of time,” Alan’s mom says with emphasis.
Because Alan is nonverbal and has the tendency to wander it is best for him to be placed 1 on 1 with a staff member, which can make finding programs for him that much harder. And, Alan’s mom says, “You can’t send your kids to just anybody. We tried that, we tried other local options for his brother Davy and it was terrible.”
Davy was so traumatized from an experience with one program, so worked up and agitated, that he came home and vomited.
“These guys need stability and routine and staff that can work with them 1 on 1. And as you can probably imagine, there are not very many options locally, especially now that everyone is struggling to staff their programs.”
Alan, who is autistic and considered non-verbal, recieves assistance with a spray paint art project created by Balance’s artist-in-residence Rodrigo Santamaria. Photo by Lillian Short
“Balance has really been a godsend for Alan. You can really tell when staff cares about the people and their jobs and you can really tell that here at Balance, they care SO much,” says Alan’s mom.
“Without this, without Balance, Alan doesn’t get much, if any, social interaction with people outside of our family,”
Alan was just able to start back with Balance’s day program a few weeks ago, while Balance sees an increase in summer staff, many of whom are on break from school and need good summer jobs. So, for the time being, Alan’s mom has to call the Program Director, Gene, every week and see what days they have space for him. So far Alan has been able to come back to Day Program 3 half days per week, and Alan’s mom says she would gladly pay out of pocket for any additional hours she could get him at Balance. “He’s so happy being back. He loves it here with his friends. One of the other participants he has known for many years through school and he was so excited to see him here,” explains Alan’s mom.
Before being able to come back, Alan would go to the Balance website daily to look at his friends. He still goes to the website, but a little less now that he can go see his friends in real life at Day Program. He still takes every piece of mail we get from Balance and claims it as his own. Alan’s mom’s face lightens when she talks about how happy Alan is at Balance and all the ways she can see the shifts in his mood after getting to hang out with his Balance friends.
