1) Rady Children's Hospital Autism Intervention Center- Parent Education and Support for Families of Children with Autism - Provide facilitated parent education and support groups to families throughout San Diego County with a recent diagnosis of autism. Group structure intended to help build relationships within group for support. Program topics will include understanding and coping with diagnosis, challenges and opportunities with siblings, martial stress, evaluation of alternative treatment options, behavioral principles and practical techniques for decreasing challenging behaviors, therapeutic approaches, and community agencies.

2) Exceptional Family Resource Center (EFRC)- Physician's Outreach Project: Earlier Referral for Assessment of Autism (EFRC) - Studies have shown that earlier recognition of the autism warning signs leads to earlier referral, assessment, diagnosis intervention and successful outcomes. This proposal extends, expands and enhances the 2005 Autism Outreach Project with follow-up of previously visited health care professionals, meeting and providing packets to new health care professionals and evaluating the outreach initiative.

3) San Ysidro School District Special Education Department- Educational Technology Enhancement for Children with Autism - A pilot study of an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) based software for children with autism in the classroom setting. Research that has examined the effectiveness of Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) for teaching children with autism and other developmental disorders has been promising.

4) STAR (Socialization Training and Reinforcement) Program, Inc. - Breath, Stretch and Relax: An Autism Stress Reduction Project - This intervention is designed to teach children with high functioning autism or Aspergers Disorder how to relax their body and their mind so that they can more effectively deal with social demands. One of the goals is to determine the impact of this intervention approach for increasing body awareness and relaxation skills and for reducing stress-induced maladaptive behaviors.

5) University of California, San Diego - Department of Psychology - A Sustainable Training Model for Pivotal Training in the Classroom - The goal is to improve the overall quality of services for children with autism by increasing the availability and quality of training for local teachers. This study is designed to increase the sustainability, availability and effectiveness of a research-supported behavioral intervention in San Diego County school districts.

6) SDSU -Dept of Special Ed Autism Program - The Generalization of Effective Prompting Techniques by Paraprofessionals Educating Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorders- The role of the paraprofessional is very important and yet typically receive only a minimal amount of training. This project will train paraprofessionals in the use of prompting techniques for educating students with autism and analyze how effectively these skills are being utilized in the classrooms.

See projects funded in  2008, 2007, 2006, 2005