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“Published”
Article featured in The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Health
Kristi Weber’s article, Asperger’s Syndrome from Hiding to Thriving, was published in the July 2008 issues of The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Health. Weber is the Director of Healthcare and Admissions at Epworth Village.
YORK-Kristi Weber knows what it is like to be a parent of a child with behavioral and mental issues. For years, Weber has utilized her personal understanding of the complex issues families can face through her career as the Director of Healthcare and Admissions at Epworth Village.
Today, the recent graduate with a Masters in Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner Degree from Clarkson College is sharing her expertise with an even wider audience. An article written from Weber’s Masters Thesis was published in the July 2008 edition of The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Health. The article, “Asperger’s Syndrome: From Hiding to Thriving,” features one of the many mental illnesses Epworth Village treats each day in their program serving boys 7 to 18 and their families.
“Our topics were wide open and we could use about anything we wanted to,” Weber explained about the thesis process. “I knew I wanted to do something in mental health and because we have had so many youth with Asperger’s Syndrome at Epworth, I decided that would be a great topic.” Weber said another reason she felt the topic was a good choice is the fact that a practical guideline on Asperger’s has not been written since the mid-1980s.
According to Weber’s research, “Asperger’s syndrome is a neurobiological disorder identified as a pervasive development disorder within the autistic spectrum.” The cause of the syndrome is not completely understood. However, there are several symptoms present when diagnosis is made, everything from difficulty relating socially with others to an inability to correctly interpret or express oneself.
Weber said that Epworth sees more children with Asperger's, “because we are willing to work with these kids. A lot of times, children with Asperger’s have failed at other levels of care and programs. Due to their degree of social struggles and at times intellectual functioning, they are often denied by other programs. At Epworth we’ve been fairly successful, with some of the children doing very well and able to move to lower levels of care.”
Public knowledge of the appropriate procedures for diagnosis of Asperger’s is in many ways in its infancy, according to Weber. “For example, we recently had a family in for an initial Family Treatment Planning Conference with us. The mother said her son has Asperger’s yet we did not have it on the treatment plan. She in turn said the school had diagnosed him. Schools cannot diagnose a mental illness and Asperger’s is a mental illness as identified by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”
Weber’s article noted there is no single intervention that is effective for all children and adolescents with Asperger’s, “Before recommending an intervention for a family, the healthcare professional must ask themselves if the treatment could result in harm to the child/adolescent; if the treatment has been validated scientifically; if the assessment procedures are specified; and if the family and interdisciplinary team can integrate this into the child’s current program. If the answer is yes, then the intervention should be explored further for implementation.”
The important thing, Weber said, is looking at mental illness from a common sense vantage point. “If all of us took a psychological test, it’s more than likely we’d all have indicators of mental illness. Yet, most of us are able to utilize effective coping strategies and do not exhibit symptoms. The individuals with limited strategies to manage their mental issues are the ones we see in treatment. Having a mental illness doesn’t mean a poor prognosis or that you will not be successful in life. Einstein is believed to have had Asperger’s. Many very functional and very influential people who have a mental illness manage well and lead very successful lives.”
Although Weber’s personal experience did not involve Asperger’s she does relate to families seeking help for their children. “I’ve been there and I’m still there. Even though my daughter is 23 years old, she still has her struggles. I always try to be careful to say that I don’t claim to know exactly what it is like for the parents we serve at Epworth, but I do know what it has been like in my own family. I know what it is like to feel as though the doors are always shut and no one cares.”
Weber said one of the most difficult aspects of dealing with mental illness, is finding someone to help. “Nebraska has a somewhat cumbersome system. It’s like looking at the Nebraska map and not seeing towns and cities but seeing services and programs. You start down one road and see that your child does not fit that description, then you head down another road but that road is under construction, so you take the detour.”
Weber is extremely proud to work for Epworth Village, an agency she says is willing to be creative in terms of helping families find treatment options. “The cool thing about Epworth is our administration not only thinks out of the box, but our box is always changing. Our goal is to meet the needs of the child rather than the child having to meet ours. I’ve always liked that poem ‘Footsteps’ about Jesus carrying you during your greatest struggles. In a lot of ways that’s what Epworth does, we walk beside the youth, helping and guiding them, but when they are struggling the most we carry them, that’s what we do. We don’t give up.”