AMFAS Update: Status and Opportunities

The air is becoming crisper and the trees are starting to change color, meaning it’s been a year since we put out our last AMFAS Status Update for Fall. We hope everyone is getting ready to start toward the holiday season very shortly.

Since our beginnings in 2008, AMFAS was established to lead the way in supporting our military families as a true collaborative effort. Because of the importance we put on transparency, it’s vital to give a status update on the AMFAS project and share some opportunities you in the community have to help the only organic (by military families) national grassroots effort specifically focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Opportunities to join the AMFAS Team

American Military Families Autism Support continues to look for new and innovative ways to support our families. The benefit of having a great community is that there are a lot of great ideas on what can be done better.

AMFAS is the first national community specifically for military families dealing with autism, started back in 2008. We aren’t a one-stop-shop for all special needs, which allows us to focus on delivering the most concise interest items for our families dealing with ASD and provide support no one else can match.

If you’ve thought about how you can make a difference for military families dealing with autism, we have a number of opportunities.

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Tour of AMFAS Part 9: The Community

If there is one word that encompasses what American Military Families Autism Support is about, it’s community.

Our community is diverse, savvy and typically without a lot of time on their hands. We understand that because we too are military families and parents of children with autism.

Your friends at AMFAS have long established the focus of our efforts for the website as a commitment to you and making a place that you can call home. This is your home for military families dealing with autism. Your community. It can’t be re-enforced strongly enough.

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Tour of AMFAS Part 8: Information

In military lingo, the term Tactics, Techniques and Procedures is an oft-used way to explain how to get the mission accomplished.

Since, one of the core missions of American Military Families Autism Support is providing comprehensive information on the spectrum of autism care for military families, TTPs are part of the community.

The Information section is a living knowledge repository for TTPs, offering standard and supplementary information on what services and support are available to all military families dealing with autism, how to obtain the services and  appropriate references to other pertinent information.

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Tour of AMFAS Part 4: Website overview

In the early 2000s most every organizational leader was adamant that they needed a website. It didn’t matter that they had no clue what that meant. They had to have it.

Along the way, a lot of static sites were produced that provided basic information, but lacked any significant benefit to visitors.

Since that time websites have been joined by blogs and many of the other social media platforms that compliment the information traditionally available through the .org or .com offerings.

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Tour of AMFAS Part 2: Blogs

When American Military Families Autism Support promotes AMFAS, the real promotion is our families.

There are two sites AMFAS currently uses for blogging. The first is the AMFAS Update at

update.amfas.org and the other is AMFAS: The Blogs at blog.amfas.org. Each of these serves a specific focus for our community. Read more

Tour of AMFAS Part 1

We just relaunched AMFAS.org and look forward to the important additions it will provide our AMFAS community.

Whether you’re new to AMFAS or have been with us from the beginning, there are probably questions you have about the community and website, functionality and how to get the most out of it.

To start, this is a community for military families, by military families. It thrives based on you. Don’t be fooled by the fact AMFAS has grown significantly since we started this journey in 2008. It is about every one of our community members, not fundraising or status. You have input and you have the ability to help make things better for all our families. Please share your ideas and help families through our many venues. Together we can make a difference.

Our mission is based upon four pillars: news, information, community and support. We only focus on Autism for military families. Not try to cover all special needs. Not try to cover everything military.

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AMFAS recognizes World Autism Awareness Day

April 2 is a special day for anyone around the globe who knows someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

On this day, organizations, businesses, government officials and lots and lots of people will recognize this World Autism Awareness Day for what it is: a call for awareness and action.

Let’s put the day into perspective.

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AMFAS Update: Status and opportunities

It’s hard to believe September is flying by and before long we’ll be getting ready for Halloween, Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season.

Because of this, it’s important to give a status update on the AMFAS project and share some opportunities you in the community have to make the only 100 percent organic (by military families) national grassroots effort specifically focused on Autism Spectrum Disorder.

While it’s been noticeable that our website has been slow to launch, there are a few reasons, with many of them being the same issues you are facing on the homefront, from work requirements and battles with schools, to behavioral issues and family obligations. In the name of transparency, we are looking to get the basics of the site online Oct. 1, with certain support areas coming online in stages. Here are things to expect:

- AMFAS News Service

- AMFAS Blogs with special support for our community of bloggers and the ability to have your own blog on the site

- AMFAS Groups with the ability to support your local autism support efforts and more

- AMFAS Answers that allows our families to ask a question and have our community provide answers

- AMFAS Forum providing an integrated forum for discussion by our members

- AMFAS Worldwide Resource covering every installation worldwide with ratings/feedback/more  (evolution of the original AMFAS Wiki)

- Some other goodies

If you’ve been on our American Military Families Autism Support Facebook page lately, you may have noticed that we now have in excess of 1,500 friends who have joined the community.  Important is that the AMFAS team doesn’t spam people asking them to “like” our Facebook page. Our community members find us, though we do encourage our community members to let their EFMP offices know about us and tell others who can benefit. Keep asking questions, sharing information and making suggestions on how we can continue to better our community.

One exciting outreach endeavor we recently started is what we call AMFAS Groups (or meet-up groups). These are local AMFAS chapters near military installations to help your families reach out and meet others near you for support or even getting out of the house.

AMFAS Groups are currently setup for the following locations:

• AMFAS Anchorage Group
• AMFAS Colorado Springs Group
• AMFAS San Diego Group
• AMFAS Scott AFB Group
• AMFAS Washington DC- Capital Region Group
• AMFAS Ft Walton Beach Group
• AMFAS Boston Group
• AMFAS Alamogordo Group
• AMFAS Ft Bragg / Pope AFB Group (now known as Pope Field)

If you would like to start an AMFAS Group near your installation, either ask on Facebook or send an email to info@amfas.org

Of course, doing good work takes time and effort. AMFAS was always intended to represent a true collaborative of families, and, with the support of the community will grow even more.

For those of you frustrated that AMFAS hasn’t expanded as quickly as possible, the next six months will impress you. Also, there are probably people who have come across AMFAS, taken in what we are trying to accomplish, and said to themselves, “I can do that better.”

First we ask if you’ve contributed to the cause? If not, why? Currently there are plenty of Special Needs support groups and websites out there for military families. AMFAS is the only one of this type specifically for military families dealing with autism and if you look at our community interaction, it speaks for itself. Join our team.

We are well-aware of the golden rule, those who have the gold make the rules. In the future we’re sure others will want to replicate AMFAS for person gain and build what AMFAS has been working on since 2008. This is where corporate attitudes collide with common sense needs of our families.

This is why our community members are so important to the cause. You bring what fundraising cannot for this need. You are the subject matter experts on your children with one focus: recovery. You have the experience-based care information to pass on to other families. And together we can make a difference. This is where you come in:

If you would like to volunteer to help AMFAS better support our families, it’s time to take action. Tell families who are in our boats that this is available, invite your EFMP coordinators to visit and learn more about real issues being faced by our military families and offer ideas and input into making our community better. If you would like to volunteer in any capacity, send us a note to info@amfas.org and tell us what your interests are related to autism and any experience pertinent to helping the community online or locally. We need people with passion, not an agenda.

At some point in the future we will start looking at fundraising opportunities to further increase our support to you, through better outreach and communication. But these will stay in step with our responsibility to our families of ensuring our efforts meet your needs. More to come on that later since we’re currently in the trenches with autism and helping families.

Coded for AMFAS

AMFAS has unveiled a few technology-driven options for getting out the word on our community. Featured on our flyers for attendees at the AutismOne conference in Chicago are what are known as QR (short for Quick Response) codes (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). If you have an iPhone or Android phone, a simple app will allow your phone to collect, read and give you the information embedded in these pictures. This is just another way that our community is using the newest technology to improve support for our military families.