What is Spartan Caregiver Support? The COVID-19 outbreak has left thousands of caregivers in the State of Michigan without behavioral and social support for people with autism. Spartan Caregiver Support aims to address this urgent need by providing  caregivers with free informational support via phone, video chat, or other electronic media.

How does Spartan Caregiver Support work?Caregivers of people with autism who reside in the State of Michigan can visit our Web site and sign up for our e-mail list. Every Thursday at 8:00pm EST, we will e-mail caregivers with instructions for how to sign up for a free 15 minute meeting (via phone or video chat) with a member of Spartan Caregiver Support the following week. We also anticipate scheduling “call in” times where caregivers may directly call us for informational support. As our resources expand, our e-mails and Web site will include additional caregiver resources that are vetted and based on best practices.

Spartan Caregiver Support can help in the following areas:

• Behavioral concerns, such as tantrums and meltdowns
• Communication difficulties, such as difficulty expressing wants and needs
• Daily schedules and routines, such as completing a list of chores and brushing one’s teeth
• Sleep concerns, if those concerns have a behavioral (and not a medical) cause
• Getting along with family members, such as siblings and cousins
• Following rules and expectations, such as following a caregiver’s instructions

Interested in learning more? Please see our Web site for additional information.

The National Autism Resource and Information Center will be a dynamic and interactive, highly visible and effective central point of quality resources and information for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and other developmental disabilities, their families, and other targeted key stakeholders.

Michigan Alliance for Families  is a statewide resource to connect families of children with disabilities to resources to help improve their children’s education.  We help facilitate parent involvement as a means of improving educational services and outcomes for students with disabilities.

Michigan Alliance can assist you in knowing your rights, effectively communicating your child’s needs, and advising how to help them develop and learn.  View or print our brochure: English, Spanish, Arabic.

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) authorizes formula grants to states and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technology and personnel development and parent-training and information centers.