Tuesday, May 29, 2007

New York City to Unveil $3 Million Autism Support Program

Members of the New York City Council plan to announce a $3 million program to pay for support and referral services for autistic children and their families throughout the city. The announcement is scheduled to be made at a press conference on Wednesday, May 30, by David I. Weprin, chair of the city council's finance committee, and Hiram Monserrate.

The goal of the program is to provide "wraparound services" for children with autism spectrum disorders outside of school and to provide public awareness information about diagnosis and early intervention and referral services to families across the city, according to a spokeswoman for UJA-Federation of New York. (UJA stands for United Jewish Appeal. The UJA-Federation is one of several nonprofit and advocacy groups taking part in the announcement of this program; others include New York Families for Autistic Children, Autism Speaks, Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State Life's WORC, Lifespire, and the Autism Society of America's Bronx Chapter.)

The program is slated to last one year, the city budget year that starts after June 30. Groups to provide services would be chosen when the budget year begins. City agencies then would be expected to determine where to use the money for wraparound services in New York City.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What are "wraparound services?"

Michael Goldberg said...

As I understand it, wraparound services happen when the kids are not in school or other programs. More information is due to come about this New York City effort this summer when the budget year starts.
Thanks for writing!
Michael

Anonymous said...

I want to find out about wraparound services for 2008 -please e-mail me at cdydzuhn@yahoo.com -

Anonymous said...

Does anyone here know why it's so very hard for parents, care-givers, etc. to find help (primarily educational and some social) for teenagers who have autism (once again primarily Asperger's)? I live in NYC (Brooklyn) and have yet to understand why I can not locate any type of program for Asperger's teens who wish to better their socialization skills, and get tutorial help with their educational needs. I've thought about places like Sylvan, but am not sure how they'd deal with teens who have autism. Thanks for any help that you can give in this area.
Jean M. Jean3@lycos.com

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