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Adalynn Carey was a fussy baby. She liked to be swaddled until she was 8-months-old. As she grew a little older, she’d grunt and cry, but her speech didn’t develop. She was also having a lot of meltdowns.

“I think the biggest sign something was not quite right would be the extreme temper tantrums and meltdowns that were inconsolable,” her dad, Haron, remembers. “You know, you’ve gone down the list—is she fed? Did she hurt something? Does she have a dirty diaper? You go down that list and it’s not one of those in-pain cries. It’s just a full-on episode that you can’t stop.”

It probably seems like just yesterday you were changing your child’s first diaper and now you’re wondering if it’s time for one of the biggest milestones in your child’s development: potty training. There’s no exact age in which all children are ready for potty training, but you can expect to see some emerging readiness signs starting as early as age 24 months to 40 months.  

On Sunday, Oct. 27, 10,000 people and 500 teams from across the state gathered at Tempe Beach Park in support of the Autism Speaks Walk in Partnership with SARRC. The annual event raised an estimated $600,000, half of which will go to the important national initiatives led by Autism Speaks and the other, to support local families through SARRC's innovative research and programs. 

In addition to a 1-mile family-friendly walk and 5k, a robust resource fair featuring 20 vendors provided valuable resources to walkers.

Mary Tweit is a Clinical Interventionalist II at Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC). She provides one-on-one applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy in the home, school, and community to children, working on skills that help them in everyday life, in various situations.

How did the vaccine controversy happen?

Nate struggled to keep jobs for long. By the time he was introduced to SARRC’s Employment Services team, he’d had more jobs than he could count. Nate, 27, needed a job that could keep him busy all day — he hated to be bored. And at SARRC, he found people who worked to understand what he wanted out of a job and helped him build his skills.

SARRC’s Employment Services are focused on ensuring adults with autism understand their value in the workplace, are confident and capable in applying and interviewing for jobs, and have the support they need to succeed.

For Steve, going to the store with his two daughters, Sarah, 9, and Ali, 8, could be challenging. “It would be typical for them to be disruptive, and overall, I wanted them to be more receptive to listening,” he says. 

By Daniel Openden
President & CEO, SARRC

Story by Arizona Horizon

PHOENIX - For most of us, finding a job can be frustrating but for someone with a disability, it goes beyond that.  Employers often shy away from hiring people with disabilities, diminishing their chance at finding gainful employment. SARRC, Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, has a program designed to help people with autism find work. SARRC partnered with 70 different companies committed to hiring people with autism. We look at the challenges and the benefits potential employees and employers face.