Visiting a new clinic can be overwhelming, especially for families of children with special health care needs. To help ease the anxiety of a first time visit, the Thompson Center has developed a Guide to Services, which is given to every new family that comes through its doors. This Guide provides information about the Center’s clinics and services as well as information on statewide and community resources that may be helpful for families of children with special health care needs.

The Guide to Services was written by the Thompson Center Family-Professional Task Force, which was composed of parents of children with ASD and other developmental disorders and Thompson Center professionals. The Family-Professional Task Force carefully designed the Guide for ease of use by limiting the amount of information and providing a “notes” section on each page, and by adding hole punches so that the booklet can be placed into a larger three-ring binder.

Families who would like a copy of the Guide to Services may ask for one during a visit to the Thompson Center or the 20 page Guide can be downloaded from the Thompson Center’s website at http://thompsoncenter.missouri.edu/families/index.php.

The Guide is funded by a State Implementation grant to improve comprehensive and coordinated care for children and youth with ASD and other developmental disorders (Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA] funding from 2008-2011).