Supporting Individuals Who Have Autism - Case Study Example

Ability First Ottawa Name: Institution: Course: Instructor: Date of submission: Description of the Organization First Ability Ottawa is a non-governmental charitable organization that ensures the provision of wide-ranging services as well as support to people experiencing or not experiencing disabilities of development as well as their families. The organization's programs are flexible and are specifically devoted to creativity as well as community's wellbeing. Through this organization, individuals experiencing disability get help and through this, these people then mentor others with similar problem. The organizations ensure the promotion of the Canadian health via art by conducting innovative as well as interactive programs, projects, as well as workshops to benefit individuals of various age groups who are experiencing disability, chronic illness, or those with other special needs. Apart from that, the organization offers support and respite to caregivers, families, as well as staff. My proposal is eligible for funding because one of the goals the organization is to ensure that individuals who have autism are receiving support. Name of Organization Ability First Ottawa Street Address 211 Bronson, Ottawa , ON K1R 6H4 Phone Number +1 613 291 5422 Contact Name and Email christinar294@gmail.com Website http://abilityfirstottawa.org/ Organizational Information The mission of Ability First Ottawa is a society valuing each other and offer chances for every individual to achieve a full as well as a productive life. The focus of the organization is capability and at the same time expands possibility. The services offered by the organization include programs on life skills, recreational and social activities, employment and job training, and support programs for parents. The organization supports programs that target special needs such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Down syndrome, and autism. Such programs should focus on helping adults and children experiencing disabilities to allow them to attain their full potential as well as a productive life. State, as well as regional centers, is responsible for funding qualified agencies. The organization also supports the programs that ensure that those with special needs are attaining their full potential. Executive Summary The project will specifically focus on addressing the issue of Autism among children below five years. Caring for a child experiencing autism requires extra expenses. A family with such a child may also experience a reduction of income because the caring role is demanding and in some cases may require one of the parents to quit the job and focus on providing the child with care. The project will aim at identifying the needs of the parents with a child who is experiencing autism and address them through the provision of funding as well as other services. Through the financing from the Ability First Ottawa, the projected will be implemented, and effective plans of treatment of children who have autism as well as support for the parents shall be put in place. The project will also involve teaching the parents about regular activities of living. Apart from that, the implementation phase will include the Hanen approach that focuses on language and speech development for children with autism. Another aspect that will be implemented is PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) in which the parent will be required to share their children's progress through the use of videotapes. Education would also be directed to the children who have autism. Other activities that would be in place include free ones such as play, and the aim here is to encourage social especially communication development. To ensure the achievement of the project's goals, each child would be provided with sufficient attention on a daily to make sure that the implementation is taking place efficiently. Needs Statement The target population of this project is children aged below five years suffering from autism together with their parents. Infants, as well as toddlers, are dependent on experiential learning in their natural environment as well as on interaction embedded in social play occurring in the daily activities of caregiving. Therefore, targeting the parents is essential because they are the main caregivers of the children. The last several years have seen the upsurge of various studies that have evaluated interventions that mainly target children who are below five years (Canada, 2009). These interventions are essential because they offer guidance to policy makers as well as clinicians. The management, as well as treatment of children experiencing autism, frequently encompasses language and speech as well as physical and occupational therapies (Canada, 2012). The project aims at addressing the social communications as well as imitation skills of these children as well as addressing the extra care that the parents need. According to studies, early intervention ensures an improvement of outcomes for children who have autism. It is, therefore, essential to provide enhancement of early detection as well as response efforts. Retrospective reports from parents, hope videotapes, as well as other studies involving children experiencing autism, reveals that early intervention can help in addressing the condition. Accurate cognitive functioning assessment is important for prognosis as well as response planning. The study also shows that a significant number of children experiencing autism are likely to suffer mental retardation (Douglas, 2012). Therefore, it is important to provide appropriate care for these children once the diagnosis has been conducted. According to studies, it is essential to offer support to caregivers primarily funding to compensate for the time they spend in providing care for their children. This work is likely to receive great support from parents who have children experiencing autism. The caregivers or guardians must experience a feeling of safety, comfort, as well as confidence before taking time off to provide care to these children, and this can only occur if they are provided with necessary support (Kurtz, 2006). It is, therefore, essential to implement a program to ensure that children, as well as caregivers, are receiving the much-needed care to help in addressing the problem of autism. Such a program will assist in providing an improvement of earlier diagnosis as well as ensure earlier diagnosis as well as treatment (Winston, Vallelunga, Illinois. & Hope School, 2006). Apart from that, it will help in ensuring that the resources of the family have been strengthened. Among the interventions include education for both the children and the caregivers. A family with a child suffering from autism usually experience added stress and, and therefore, it is essential to equip them with the necessary skills and support on how to raise their children well. The caregivers ought to be offered information regarding autism as well as various technologies and services to assist them in conducting various responsibilities. It is also essential to provide them with timely information regarding the educational plans, assessments, as well as other available resources touching on their children (Kurtz, 2006). The conveying of such information ought to be in a meaningful way as this will ensure that the caregivers have ample time to enable them to make preparations to accomplish their responsibilities. Studies reveal that an early program of intervention for under five-year-old children experiencing autism is essential for ensuring an improvement in language ability, IQ, as well as social interaction. This necessitates the need for ensuring that the parents are provided with effective therapies once the diagnosis of the child has occurred. One of the interventions that the program will implement is ‘relationship-based' developmental approaches and APA (applied behavioral analysis) methods of teaching. This is an effective way because it assists in building a positive link with the child (Canada, 2012). Goals and Objectives he following are the goals and the objectives to be achieved: Goal: To offer educational tools and skills to the caregivers of children who have autism Objectives By the end of January 2017, all the parents and caregivers shall have received educational tools to enable them to raise their autism children well. The session shall be conducted by a psychologist. Time: there would be a session of one hour each week for three months where the caregivers shall be equipped with skills on how well they can cope with a child suffering from autism. The training shall occur within the community centers. To identify the best early approach of intervention for autism to help in determining the best care for the children Promote increased access to information, knowledge, and skills Promote greater cognizance, availability, as well as implementation of practices that are based on evidence Ensure the expansion of opportunity for children who have autism as well as their families to have a full engagement in their family Endorse a change in the system that would enable individuals experiencing autism to reap benefits Implementation The implementation of the plan would occur once the diagnosis is determined. However, with positive screening, the implementation phase would be immediate. The diagnosis of the children experiencing autism will occur once they attain two years. Another aspect of implementation would entail the expansion of high-quality as well as evidence-based in-service and pre-service development, mentoring opportunities, and technical assistance, especially to the family members. Training of parents/caregiver: this would take approximately three months after the inception. The program will also involve ensuring that there would be an upsurge in relevant training availability for the members and this would be conducted at the community centers. These centers will offer services to children as well as adults with the aim of helping in the treatment of autism. Among these services include music one for children. Enabling environment: This would occur throughout the project. The project aims at offering an enabling environment for children with disability for them to learn, develop essential life skills, build confidence, as well as have fun. This program is essential for assisting the children. Since the children would be enrolled in the program, the environment would be enabling throughout to ensure a positive outcome. Home-visit: will occur twice per week and this intervention will target children who cannot come to the community centers. Resource allocation: this will happen by the end of March 2017 and will be conducted by the manager with the assistance of the other staffs. The caregivers will receive financial support to help them in raising their children as well as assist in ensuring a constant flow of money. Location of resources: this would occur by the end of December 2016. Among the resources that would be essential for effective implementation include equipment, office space, as well as supplies. Other resources that would be critical include effort time, as well as support mainly from the members of the community. The community members will be informed about the plan by the first week of December 2016. The resources shall be drawn from both private as well as the public. The funding shall mainly come from Ability First Ottawa. However, there would also a fund drive. Staffing training: will take place in December 2016. The staffs will include those working within the administration as well as other areas and training should be subjected to all of them. The training will involve involving the members of the staff about autism DDT training: duration would be three months. This will require specialized training and will aim at producing the positive outcome of the behavior. FCT (Functional Communication Training): this will be continuous and involve training to bring about the replacement of inappropriate or disruptive behavior with effective or more appropriate communication. Budget Expense Item Description Amount Human Resource - Staffing Recruitment and training $1’000’000 Catering Purchase of food staffs $20,000 Insurance For families and children $2,000,000 Venue Rental Paid per month $800 Office Supplies Include books, pens and papers $200 Promotion and Printing Done through media $50,000 Expected outcomes Effective autism interventions result in the improvement of results. The maximization of the outcomes occurs when individual characteristics are matched with interventions at begun at an early age. Improvement of language and cognitive abilities of the child antecedent, a physical or verbal stimulus, for example, request of command ad this is as a result of the environment of may originate from another person Positive reinforcement of the behavior which is desired Child having the ability to develop communication and learning skill Diminished challenging behavior Ability of the child to play with other children Child's gaining the capacity to have control of his/her senses thus gaining to have control of their movement Ability of the child to attain eye contact A child showing interest in playing with other children Ability to show or point joint attention The outcomes will be evaluated through the presence of high independence levels, better quality of life, and health and wellbeing. Dissemination of Outcomes The success of the project has been achieved because it (the project) has embraced all the staffs as well as other stakeholders in functional activity. All the individuals will be involved in the process of dissemination. Dissemination will involve the adoption of multi-strand approach. The first statement would be greeting the audience as this will help in increasing their interest. The aim here is to achieve maximum success; therefore, all the outcomes shall be disseminated in a clear and concise manner. The media to be utilized for dissemination are E-mail, reports, briefings, one-to-one, workshops, and media. References Canada. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Ottawa: Health Canada. Canada. (2012). Autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Ottawa: Health Canada. Douglas, S. (2012). Understanding actions, states, and events: Verb learning in children with autism. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Kurtz, L. A. (2006). Visual perception problems in children with AD/HD, autism, and other learning disabilities: A guide for parents and professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley Winston, G., Vallelunga, L., Illinois., & Hope School (Springfield, Ill.). (2006). The Autism Program: Your Illinois resource : The Autism Program : three years of system development. Springfield, Ill.: Illinois Dept. of Human Services. Read More