The Arnone Report: Addressing the needs of autistic children and adults

By Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Tom Arnone

As I have mentioned before, one of the most rewarding organizations I am involved in is the Monmouth Ocean Foundation for Children (MOFFC). I share this honor with our Monmouth County Sheriff, Shaun Golden, as we are both members of the board of directors. As the vice chairman of the board, I am working with MOFFC leadership to develop a facility for adults with autism because they “age out” of the current services available within our county at 21 years of age. This facility would provide programming, services, therapies, and life skills training. These adults with special needs deserve a safe environment where they can continue to thrive and learn.

I am pleased to say we are extremely close to making this program a reality and I am currently working on the funding sources for it. I hope to have more specific details on this important and exciting project in the weeks to come.

For those of you who are not familiar with MOFFC, the organization’s mission is to supplement the needs of local children attending specialized educational programs operated by the Monmouth Ocean Educational Services Commission (MOESC). The foundation draws together the various resources of businesses, community groups, and individuals who are interested in enhancing educational opportunities. As a result of reductions in educational funding through the years, enhancement programs have been seriously hindered and the Foundation supports the development of enrichment programs and services not financed with tax dollars.

The programs that MOFFC partners with are extremely important in our region as we continue to see the number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) increase year after year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report recently showing the rate of children identified with an ASD remains at 1 in 68 children nationally. This statistic is based on the CDC’s evaluation of health and educational records of 8-year-old children in 2012 in 11 states, including New Jersey.

According to the CDC findings, New Jersey again has the highest rates of those states evaluated: with 1 in 41 children (2.5% of children). This percentage is higher than the average percentage identified with ASD (1.5%) in all communities in the United States where CDC tracked ASD in 2012. The New Jersey rate marks an increase of 12% from the previous 1 in 45 statistic released two years ago. These numbers are alarming, and even more so when you think about these children as they grow into adults and age out of services at 21 years of age, coupled with the lack of services available for adults with ASD , and it’s a frightening future for these individuals.

This new project will bring together services for the autistic adult that have been desired in our community for a long time. I will need your assistance in achieving this goal – please join me in providing necessary resources for some of our most vulnerable adults. If you would like additional information on MOFFC or the Shore Center for Students with Autism, or to donate, please visit the following websites: www.moesc.org, www.moffc.org, www.theshorecenter.org.

Thank you for your continued support!

Freeholder Director Tom Arnone can be reached at [email protected]