Helping those who help others

By DANIELLE LYNCH

NEW GARDEN — Susan Rzucidlo, a mother of an autistic teenager, founded a nonprofit organization called Speak Unlimited, which has a mission “to serve those who serve and help those in need.”
Formerly known as “Silent No More,” Speak Unlimited was founded three years ago, in 2005 by Rzucidlo. Her son, Ben, now 16, suffers from autism and mental retardation.
“We provide safety tools and information to first responders and are self advocates for those with disabilities,” Rzucidlo said.
With the help of former New Garden Police Chief Kevin McCarthy, who is now the police chief in East Earl, Lancaster County, a system called the Premise Alert was created and more than 30,000 police officers statewide became aware of special-needs issues. The system provides families with a uniform method to alert first responders about special-needs individuals.
The Premise Alert was implemented as a Chester County program in November 2004; and in April 2007 the Premise Alert was presented to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by state Rep. Chris Ross, R-158th, of East Marlborough.
“Chief McCarthy helped create a way to communicate with police officers,” Rzucidlo said. “Kids are safer in the community because they know they can ask officers questions.”
McCarthy said the Premise Alert became part of the computerized dispatch system in Chester County under the direction of the Chester County Department of Emergency Services.
“Anytime you have communication, you have success,” McCarthy said. “The idea and effect are tremendous,” he said of the Premise Alert.
In addition to the Premise Alert, a Critical Medical Information form was created by Speak Unlimited which can be clipped to parts of the car so that in the case of an accident, first responders will know about the child’s needs. Rzucidlo said she also suggests parents create business cards for their disabled child with their photo, name, address, phone number and caregiver phone number that reads: “due to disability, I may need help.” She said parents should teach their children to say: “I have a card, I’m going to get it.”
Rzucidlo, similar to other parents of special-needs children, has taken a proactive approach in helping others.
“Ben has led me where I am now and a lot of people have been helped by it,” she said.
And like others parents with special-needs children, there are struggles with issues such as education.
Ben attended an autism program in Delaware for two years, his mother said. He’s now enrolled in an autistic support group program at Kennett High School located within the Kennett Consolidated School District.
The program, known as Kennett Work Opportunities and Real Knowledge Equals Success, also known as WORKS, allows Ben to take keyboarding and music classes part of the day, according to his mother. And the other parts of the day, Ben works with a job coach and a life skills coach and then he goes to the YMCA. Ben also volunteers at a local food cupboard, and did work in the mailroom department of the Chester County Intermediate Unit.
Looking back, Rzucidlo said she recalls that in 1997 she was told that if her son couldn’t speak 10 words by age 5, he would never be able to speak.
“His fifth birthday was really hard,” she said.
But that medical professional was wrong, she said. At the age of 7, Ben was able to speak.
“He can get the message across, but can’t comment on the day,” Rzucidlo said.
Another daily challenge for Rzucidlo is that she and her husband have to split their time between Ben and their three other typical children: 18-year-old Phillip, 14-year-old Kate and 11-year old Laura.
But Rzucidlo said she’s hopeful of Ben’s condition and that if he woke up one day and was no longer autistic, she’d shut her program down.
“I’d knock down my grandmother to find a cure,” she said.
For more information about Speak Unlimited and the Premise Alert, visit www.papremisealert.com.

To contact staff writer Danielle Lynch, send an e-mail to dlynch@dailylocal.com.
Today is the second part of a three-part series in which the Daily Local News will look at the multifaceted issue of special-needs children in Chester County.