A Somali parents' group explains founding of the Somali Parents Autism Network after studies showing 1 in 32 Somali children have autism. The video outlines SPAN's mission and services: outreach, education, navigation, advocacy and community awareness.
1 in 32 children in the United States of Somali descent have autism. SPAN was founded by a group of Somali parents with children with autism to help the parents find services and support. The mission of Somali Parents Autism Network is to educate and inform Somali families.
The autism prevalence among the Somali children between the ages of 7 and 10 is very high. A study after study found that 1 in 32 children in the United States of Somali descent have autism. SPAN was founded by a group of Somali parents with children with autism to help the parents find services and support. It's a non profit organization located in the state of Minnesota. Before 2014 there were no culturally appropriate services in Minnesota for Somali parents. We were a group of Somali parentes with children diagnosed with autism.
We didn't know much about autism. We did not know how to find services and support. For that reason, in 2014 we created ISPAN to use as a networking and information sharing platform. The mission of Somali Parents Autism Network is to educate and inform Somali families of children with autism spectrum disorders in Minnesota via outreach, education, collaboration and for the purpose of providing them with resources and services to reach their end goal of caregiver empowerment and early intervention.
Our vision is to create a world where individuals with autism spectrum disorders in the Somali community in Minnesota are not stigmatized and are fully embraced, understood and empowered to reach their full potential. That services we provide system, navigation, advocacy, connecting parents to services and support. We also provide many autism related educational workshops for the parents. We also have a very successful program called Autism Awareness Campaign where we go to the houses of worship, daycares, school, community schools, community gatherings to share the community with the correct and authentic autism information to debunk some of the misconceptions and misunderstandings about autism within the Somali community.
We work with the state departments, state of Minnesota departments, we work with counties, we work with other service providers, we work with houses of worship to improve service delivery for the Somali parents with children with autism.
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