NFAR is pleased to announce our 2011/2012 Community Project grantees, all of which provide increased learning and treatment opportunities for local children with autism and their families.
Just last month, we awarded $29,500 to 64 educators across San Diego County through our Autism Teachers Grant program and this year’s Community Project grant funding totals $88,000 to date. With the support of our Race for Autism participants, fundraisers and sponsors, NFAR has awarded nearly $118,000 in grants to the San Diego community in 2011, helping to change the lives of thousands of children and families impacted by autism.
2011/2012 Community Project Grant recipients include:
- Social Skills Intervention for Adolescents with ASD: An Evaluation of the PEERS Program by San Diego State University, Department of Special Education. The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson & Frankel, 2010) is a 14-week evidence-based, manualized and parent–assisted intervention focusing on the skills needed to make and keep friends, and has shown promising results. As part of the research protocol, the PEERS program will be offered to 20 adolescents and their families, free of charge.
- Creating Opportunities to Meet Peers and Advance Social Skills: A Social Skills Playgroup for Children by Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD). This 12-week playgroup will directly serve 24 young children (ages 5 – 7) with ASD in San Diego. The study will specifically measure each participant’s improvement and generalization of skills in five key areas: 1) sharing, 2) turn-taking, 3) initiating play, 4) joining play, and 5) maintaining play.
- Impact of Bike Camp on Children with Autism by Crimson Speech Language Treatment & Research. Crimson. One of the many challenges facing parents of children with autism is finding recreational activities that allow individuals with autism to effectively participate and increase skills. This study will provide direct camp instruction for 20 riders and look at the long-term affects of a self-sustaining leisure activity on the family dynamic, as well as quality of interaction and socialization.
- FIT (Family Intensive Training) Research & Evaluation Project by STAR Specialties, a program of Vista Hill. The FIT model is a new 22-week program that trains parents, along with their children, on how to most effectively support their children’s social and behavioral needs. This grant supports the staff and training for a minimum of 25 families, broken out into 5 separate treatment groups of 5 families.
- Summer Sports Camp for All by K.I.D.S. Therapy Associates Inc. This project will offer 30 - 35 children (ages 5 to 12) with autism the opportunity to participate in a fully integrated week-long summer sports camp. This program encourages cooperation, active participation, personal development and social engagement, while keeping children safe. Each child will be provided with an individualized support plan. All camp “buddies” and camp supports will allow full inclusion, regardless of disability severity.
- Early Identification and Treatment for Infants at-Risk for ASD in Spanish Speaking Families by the Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) at the University of California San Diego. Because early treatment can have a major beneficial impact on the child and his family, identifying autism at the earliest age possible is of the utmost importance. NFAR is providing Spanish language resources and expertise to include at-risk infants of Spanish speaking families in ACE’s larger Early identification Study. This study both looks to identify children as young as 12 months of age who are at-risk for autism and provides them with training and on-going developmental screenings, while gathering critical early diagnosis information.
