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The Easter Bunny meets with families during the Sensitive Egg Hunt at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Jaxson Malone and Arynne Harrison, along with their grandmother, take part in the Sensitive Egg Hunt at the Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities superintendent Julie Monroe and Colton Tomblin pose with the Easter Bunny at the Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities Sensitive Egg Hunt on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Jaxson Malone celebrates his find during the Sensitive Egg Hunt hosted by Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities at the county fairgrounds on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Amanda Pizelli works the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office table at the Walk for Autism at the county fairgrounds in Rome Township on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities hosted a Walk for Autism at the county fairgrounds in Rome Township on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities hosted a Walk for Autism at the county fairgrounds in Rome Township on Saturday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)

ROME TOWNSHIP — Children of all ages took to the Lawrence County Fairgrounds on Saturday, looking for Easter eggs for the next day’s holiday.

Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities hosted a Sensitive Egg Hunt, providing an accessible activity for those diagnosed with autism.

Just prior to the event beginning, LCDD hosted a Walk for Autism, with dozens participating and taking the route around the fairgrounds.

“We are targeting people with autism and we are doing this to bring awareness to people with autism,” Julie Monroe, superintendent for LCDD, said of the walk, the first for LCDD.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that about one in 44 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, according to estimates from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Monitoring Network. ASD is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Signs of ASD begin in early childhood and typically last throughout a person’s life.

Monroe said the event was a collaboration by LCDD with the Autism Project of Lawrence County, Special Needs Youth Sportsmen and the Autism Services Center.

Groups were set up on the site, providing information about services in the area, as well as events, such as Special Needs Youth Sportsmen’s fishing day, which provides a free day outdoors for families in June.

Monroe said they were also giving away two sensory Easter baskets, which contained items such as weighted blankets and sensory toys.

Following both events, lunch was provided to attendees.

Monroe said LCDD’s next public event will be their annual fall festival.

The event at the fairgrounds was one of the first for community use, following the use of COVID-19 funding by the Lawrence County Commission to pay down the main barn and reserve it for public gatherings over the next three years.

LCDD is a publicly funded program serving children through adults in Lawrence County.

The agency operates Open Door School and provides lifetime services through adulthood for those with developmental disabilities.

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