When the university moved online on March 19 due to the coronavirus, a virtual shift wasn’t possible for clients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are enrolled in the Kinney Center’s Adult Day Program.
“We’re not running our typical programs online,” said Hannah Tomkovicz, associate director of programs. “We don’t have the ability to serve the clients as we would if we were on campus.”
The Kinney Center’s Adult Day Program has 11 clients, some college-aged and others over the age of 21. The Adult Day Program helps their clients with learning and practicing skills in the community.
“We have adults and teens with autism that come with varying functions levels,” Tomkovicz said. “Some are able to [hold] a job, and some don’t have communication skills.”
Even amid the current challenges, Tomkovicz said the Kinney Center’s staff members are determined to continue assisting any way they can.
“I’ve given the parents of the 11 clients that come to the day program an option of a weekly one-on-one session,” Tomkovicz said. “We also do offer one group session.”
Tomkovicz said one important goal is to maintain connections.
“I wanted to give families an option to still stay connected with us and check in with us,” Tomkovicz said.
The Kinney Center is also posting daily videos for clients and their families. The videos highlight the day program’s goals to help develop life, social and vocational skills.
“We do an online video once a day, Monday through Friday,” Tomkovicz said. “Monday we produced a video on parent tips, on Tuesday a video on youth skills, Wednesday a cooking skill, on Thursday an adult or advanced social skills and Friday’s a recreation video.”
One of the Kinney Center’s signature offerings is Camp Kinney, a summer day camp for children with ASD ages 2 to 21. Neurotypical siblings and other children as well as clients in the Adult Day Program are also invited to attend . Tomkovicz said as of now, staff are planning as if Camp Kinney will take place.
“We are moving forward on camp, but obviously if this pandemic continues, we would have to reconsider,” Tomkovicz said. “But at this time, we are moving forward with the planning on Camp Kinney.”
