Families of Autistic Children Engaged Together for Support is a Bryan College Station organization created in 2007 for the support of parents in the area who have children with autism. The organization offers resources, family and youth training, sibling support groups, and meals for its members, says Executive Director Aimee Ortiz-Day.
Ortiz-Day says she found out her son was autistic when he was a little over two years old. She found FACETS while searching for local support groups in the area to assist her. In 2011, she stepped in as the executive director when the previous director made the decision to have someone with younger children take over the organization.
“Through FACETS, families are able to build a community and find that network where they can reach out to each other for support,” says Meagan Orsag, associate director for the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M University. “They have a place where they can come to learn about best practice.”
FACETS collaborates with other organizations like the Down Syndrome Association of Brazos Valley, both the B/CS school districts, the Brazos Center for Independent Living, and the Center on Disability and Development at Texas A&M for events like the monthly family training event, called Purposeful Life, Ortiz-Day says.
“Aimee has been a strong and important current advocate in our community but also across the state,” Orsag says. “She has been encouraging the police force, our first responders, and our camp counselors to learn more about how they can best support children with disabilities and their families. She’s done a wonderful job at connecting the center with our community.”
Orsag says anyone looking for more information or resources can visit the Texas A&M Center on Disability and Development website, cdd.tamu.edu, and reach out to specialists from any of t
he programs they offer.
“We as a center are seen as a connection between what’s happening in the policy world, the university world, and what’s happening in regard to research,” Orsag says. “We are able to help our communities connect to those research policies, the university standards, or best practice. We do a really great job of listening to our community and what their needs are. We then base our work on what their needs are, so the more interaction with our community the better — we welcome it.”
Accepting your child’s gifts and challenges is the first step to finding the right resources, Ortiz-Day says. The challenges autistic children have in their life are not because they have autism but because our world is not created to support autistic people in the ways they need to be supported, she says.
“One of the important topics we discuss is safety in the community,” Ortiz-Day says. “The children are in a room where they learn about police officers and firefighters and also learn about different strategies they can use to be safe when they are out in the community. We also provide training for police officers and teach them how to support autistic children in emergency situations.”
The sibling support groups are one of the programs facilitated by Texas A&M students, Ortiz-Day says.
“The sibling support groups help children learn how to advocate for their siblings, but they also allow a space for them to learn from each other about what it means to have a sibling with a disability,” Ortiz-Day says. “Sometimes that can be something that is a little bit challenging. So that’s basically for them to speak to one another and share those feelings.”
Families that are new to the community are able to meet with Ortiz-Day one-on-one and gather resources, learn from other parents, and attend conferences that give them the information they need to advocate for their children, says Ortiz-Day.
“Looking at professional resources is the best way to support your child as a parent,” Ortiz-Day says. “To look for additional information about resources like webinars or any local therapy that is provided in the area, you can visit our website at facetsbcs.org, or reach out at facetsbcs@gmail.com.”
