The Family Enrichment Weekend offers a children’s program that meets the needs of all the children in the family from infants to teens. This inclusive program has three main components:
- one-to-one companions (see "The Companion" on the preceding page) for each child,
- activities where every child can participate at some level,
- flexibility to address individual challenges.
Activities are all planned around a theme that is designed to engage all the children. The children are grouped by age and each group moves through a series of activities that change every 30 minutes. See Part 3, below, for a detailed outline for planning the children’s program that includes schedules, needed resource people, and supplies. The Family Enrichment Weekend children's program has a component that specifically addresses the needs of the nondisabled siblings. Using KIDPOWER,a sibling program created by Dr. Sally Burton-Hoyle, the siblings discuss the special skills and talents that they are developing as they grow up with a brother or sister with autism. Siblings meet together at one meal during the Family Enrichment Weekend to network and share together. A facilitator leads a discussion on the strengths that siblings develop from growing up with a brother or sibling with autism: patience, compassion, care-taking skills, and development of their personal strengths. Siblings are often very perceptive and they enjoy discussing their ability to assess situations and relationships with family friends. The shared meal is also an opportunity to laugh together with people who understand the challenge of being with their sibling in the community. When the family includes a child with autism, the siblings face challenges that need to be acknowledged. The sibling relationship is the first relationship we have with people other than our parents and with over 40% of mothers working outside the home, siblings learn to both initiate and receive social interaction from a sibling. It is a lifelong relationship and as family size decreases, the importance of a sibling increases. The friendships developed at the Family Enrichment Weekend between nondisabled siblings are the beginning of a network that will provide ongoing support.
