Caleb Bryan, 9, plays with a Wii game system under a collection of stuffed animals while at his Cleveland, Tenn., residence. Caleb’s mother, Jennifer Bryan, has noticed improvements in her autistic son’s development which she attributes to the TEAM Evaluations Center.LOCAL RESOURCES• Siskin Children’s Institute: 423-648-1700, siskin.org• Autism Society of Middle Tennessee: 615-385-2077• Orange Grove Center: 423-629-1451STORY SO FARThe Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities declined to fully fund a diagnostic and evaluation program at TEAM Centers Inc., a Chattanooga nonprofit that treats the mentally disabled, leaving thousands of patients without a formerly reliable option.The state offered funding through September, but TEAM’s executive director decided to use the money to shut down the agency’s clinical care on Aug. 15. State officials don’t know why and may look into the issue.
The TEAM Centers Inc. is a private nonprofit organization with an office at 1000 Third St. in Chattanooga that handles evaluation and assessment of people with developmental disabilities.Jennifer Bryan already juggles many worlds.
An unemployed single mom using student loans for living expenses, Bryan runs errands for her mother for extra cash, lives in a cramped apartment in Cleveland, Tenn., and cares for Caleb, her 9-year-old autistic son.
A rising fourth-grader at Stuart Elementary School, Caleb “doesn’t really comprehend the emotions of people,” his mother said. For example, he’s unable to tell the difference between a sad person and an angry person.
“It’s significant,” his mother said. “He does not know how to socialize with his peers.”