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Arts & Entertainment

Autistic Children Cherish "Good Friends Forever"

About 175 people attended a red-carpet premiere Sunday of a local nonprofit's new video about navigating middle school with autism.

Making the transition to middle school is challenging for all students, but children with autism can really struggle to navigate their new social environment.

Good Friend Inc., a Waukesha non profit, hopes to ease that transition for children with autism and help educate their typically developing peers with a new film, “Choosing to be a GFF (Good Friend Forever.)”

About 175 people attended a red carpet premiere party for the film Sunday in the Stackner Ballroom at Carroll University.

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Good Friend co-founders Denise Schamens of the Town of Brookfield and Chelsea Budde of Waukesha are the mothers of children with autism, two of whom are now in middle school. They produced “How Can I Be a Good Friend to Someone with Autism,” a film for elementary students that has sold 170 copies in 17 states. Good Friend has conducted about 100 programs at schools to foster autism awareness and acceptance to date.

The new film is targeted at a middle school audience and seeks to help middle schools create autism awareness and teacher peer acceptance. The Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin provided a $2,000 grant for the film’s production.

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The middle school cast members of “Choosing to be a GFF (Good Friend Forever)” got the VIP treatment at the film’s premiere party Sunday, complete with a red carpet and swag bags. Some wore tuxedos and Oscar-worthy gowns. But the film’s mission is serious.

A community event held last year to discuss bullying, disability harassment and other issues revealed that “what our kids are dealing with at the middle school level is very difficult and probably a lot more serious than a lot of us thought,” Schamens said in introductory remarks. “We think that having this video is really really important right now to support our children.”

Youth with special needs “just completely drop off the social map once middle school starts, which is a huge problem,” Budde said in an interview. “They can’t afford to lose the two or three friends they had managed to make in elementary school.”

The new video uses only the voices of middle school students. It includes re-enactments of real life experiences and features interviews with children who have autism. The film explains autism and how children who have autism might respond to others and their environment.

“It’s really going to change the social climate and therefore, really the learning climate in middle schools,” Budde said.

One of the students with autism featured in the video was Dalton, 13, who said he liked being in the video and that it did a good job of explaining how he feels.

Elizabeth Gilhart, 15, a freshman at Waukesha South High school, appeared in the movie. Gilhart also was in the first video and called the experience “life changing.”

“It just opens your eyes to many new experiences and helps you recognize the differences in people,” she said.

The video will be available for sale though Good Friend’s Web site, www.goodfriendinc.com.

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