Regional Autism Clinic of Iowa is the first of its kind

Lori Morrell, Michelle Hicks,
Melanie VanDyke and Nancy Boswell
of the Creston RAC-I team. 

The GHAEA Autism Resource Team (ART), Child Health Specialty Clinics (CHSC) and the University of Iowa are teaming up to bring early diagnosis to rural Iowa. The Regional Autism Clinic of Iowa (RAC-I) is a collaborative effort between Iowa’s education and medical communities and is the first of its kind! 
      Rather than traveling to Omaha, Iowa City or Des Moines, parents can now bring their child to the CHSC closest to them including locations and satellites in Council Bluffs, Creston, Leon, and in the future, Shenandoah.
      This project started two years ago, aimed at getting members of the GHAEA Autism Resource Team trained in the administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-Second Edition (ADOS-2). The ADOS-2 is a structured observation designed to elicit social and communication behaviors in children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It was proposed that the ART would then work together with CHSC as a team to complete several screenings, gather information about a child and complete ADOS-2 testing in order to diagnose or rule out ASD. 
     The GHAEA RAC-I team includes Nancy Boswell, Mary Carstens, Cheryl Case, Lori Durand, Michelle Hicks, Cheryl Mulligan, Kellie Peterson and Melanie VanDyke. They work with Krista Smith and Lori Morrell, both APRNs with Child Health Specialty Clinics, to administer the ADOS-2. Also critical to the process of diagnosis are parent interviews and reports from school staff, AEA speech-language pathologists, special education representatives and Early ACCESS providers.
     Read more about the Regional Autism Clinic of Iowa in the April/May In Touch, out this week!