I know a lot of people start blog’s and then give up, which you may have thought happened to Florida Autism Center as we haven’t posted in over 2 weeks. Not so, though. We’ve just been amazingly busy, which is a good thing. I haven’t posted all the things we’ve been busily doing to our blog yet, which is a bad thing. So, here goes . . .

SCHOOL: We made it through our first week of school. Mind you, this was school both in Daytona Beach and in Sanford. I’m pleased to report success in both locations. If I’m not mistaken, both locations have full programming in place for all their kids as of today, and also have their schedule for the entire year completely mapped out (except some TBD field trips). We’re really lucky this year. We’ve got some amazing parents and some really great kids. School is off to a good start with 11 kids. We are adding Daytona Beach kids October 1. We are adding 2 – 4 more Sanford kids in January and might consider another 1 or 2 in Daytona for January as well. Let us know if you’re interested in making the switch – we’ll take waiting list enrollment and see when it makes sense to move you from the public school to our program.

Speaking of waiting list enrollment – it’s time to get it started for January in Winter Park. We have 2 families currently in Sanford who are interested in moving to Winter Park. We need 4 more committed, contracted families before we will begin searching for a building. So, if you’d like to send your child to Florida Autism Center’s Academy program beginning in January, we need to know about it now.

EI: Wow, EI has been through some craziness lately. I’m extremely happy to say things are going along really well with United Healthcare (UBH). Our contract with them is really moving along and we have secured authorizations for kids up to 20 hours per week. Incredible.

Concerning Blue Cross, we’re resubmitting claims from some of our EI summer kids. Apparently the State of Florida has let Blue Cross know ‘in no uncertain terms’ that behavior analyst claims are to be paid. We’re hoping so, because sadly a few of our families had to drop service due to cost, and it’s really not fair when their insurance should be helping. We’ll keep you updated. Currently, we do have some EI spots open. We have one after-school slot in Daytona (3 – 5PM daily) and 3 daytime slots in Sanford (9 – 12 daily).

BIRTHDAY: We’re still working on plans for the FAC 5th Birthday Party. I’ll be posting about it soon.

MATERIALS DRIVE: We pushed our August Materials Drive back to September. If you have outgrown toys and activities, we’d be happy to get them. Jess is still working on her yard sale to create some help for private pay families, so things you have that FAC doesn’t need will go towards that. I hope she chooses the date for the yard sale soon. There is a REALLY old dresser of mine sitting around in the center, looking terrible, and waiting for the yard sale!

GRAD UPDATES: 3 of our babies started public school this week. I’m thrilled to say all 3 did great. So far so good with joining their classrooms and peers. I can’t wait to hear more from their families, which I’ll report on to all of you.

Well, there’s a lot more I could talk about – especially after a 2 week hiatus – but I don’t want this post to be too long . . .

I haven’t posted in awhile. Honestly, I’ve been really busy trying to get staff hired and ready for the upcoming school year, training, buying classroom supplies, etc., but I also hadn’t posted because I’m not so sure many people are reading this blog. I joined this ‘feedburner’ thing that is supposed to track subscriptions, etc. and it keeps saying 0. It’s disheartening. However, I feel like there’s a lot of good and interesting information to share, so I’m going to keep sharing it!

I have a couple meetings in Volusia County tomorrow with people who want to help us expand our services there. The reception in Volusia County has been wonderful. People seem truly grateful for our ABA service, and that’s very refreshing.

I’m really happy with the Sanford location, too. We ended up with a very busy summer. I can’t believe how quickly it’s flown by. We have 10 kids for school and are still growing. We’re at the point of a waiting list for October now. We have a couple EI spots open right now, but I’m guessing by the end of next week we won’t again.

The staff are busy getting the center ready for the upcoming school year. We’re reducing a lot of the clutter – thinning out the toys and moving some things to Daytona as well as packing other things away in the hopes of an Orlando location shortly materializing. We’re pretty excited about our new classroom, even though it did boot me out of my big, beautiful office. It’s going to look great and be a great space in which to learn.

We’ve scheduled our open house events for school parents and community members, but I’m not quite ready to announce the dates as there might be a change for the Daytona location upcoming. In the next few days, I’ll be sure to get the info out, though.

In sad news, we’ve lost a couple kids lately because their insurance hasn’t come through on their claims. We have a couple tricks up our sleeves that I hope will remedy this, and I’ll excitedly post info as soon as we know if our plans are going to work out.

We’re still planning for the big birthday bash in September, and Jess is still working on her yard sale – clean out those closets! August is also the materials drive, so bring us all your old kid stuff and if we can’t use it we’ll put it in the scholarship yard sale. If it’s still around after the yard sale, we’ll be taking remaining items to Children’s Home Society or Community Based Care to give to the Crisis Nursery kids.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. Like I said, there’s a lot of exciting possibilities in the next few days, and I’ll post everything that materializes, I just don’t want to jump the gun. I’ll look forward to reporting lots of good news soon!

Hi, all. I know I promised newly diagnosed info and haven’t delivered. I will shortly, I promise. It’s been a crazy few days – we now have 14 school kids signed up between the 2 locations. 1 spot left in Daytona. We’re feeling fortunate today.

However, we’re also feeling down. Our families are dedicated, wonderful people who are working their fingers to the bone for their children. It breaks my heart to see so many people who are struggling to get the therapy they need. Insurance is denying claims, grants and scholarships are being cut, and there is quite simply no way some parents can pay for everything their child needs out of pocket. One of our amazing moms is really going out of her way to help fund her daughter’s therapy, and has given me permission to pass this info along. There is a fundraiser going on for her daughter with a dress designed in her daughter’s honor. Proceeds from the sale of the dress go towards Gentry’s therapy. Please go to the following website and buy this beautiful dress for a beautiful little girl in your life, knowing that you are helping another beautiful little girl have a successful future. http://grannybsclothesline.blogspot.com/

After talking with this mother today, we decided there is more we can do to help as well. Jessica is planning a community garage sale to help raise scholarship dollars for our private pay families. It will be in late August and she will provide us with details soon. You can bring us your materials drive items and now we’ll take ANYTHING. Whatever we can’t use in the center, we’ll put in our garage sale. We are also seeking caring, compassionate volunteers who love children (background screening will be required) to train to work with some of our kids. Please contact us if you’d be able to come in for 5 hours per week and work with our kids under our supervision.

Thanks to all of you who support us and our kids.

There’s a lot going on right now at Florida Autism Center and in the autism world in general. Things seems to be really ramping up with insurance. I’m so proud of the parents, who are willing to fight and fundraise and do whatever they can to keep their kids in treatment. I’m also impressed with the wealth of resource sharing I’m seeing lately. Just yesterday, a parent came in and shared a new potential funding option with me. Apparently United HealthCare offers a scholarship of up to $5000 for one year and $7500 lifetime for ABA (and other) treatments. I’ll get the details on it and post a link in the next couple days. <br><br>Something that I’m really excited about is Florida Autism Center’s 5th birthday! Our birthday is September 1, and we’re planning a celebration. I’m starting to work on getting a bounce house, clown, and maybe even ponies (ok, we’ll see about the ponies . . .) and trying to put together a list of vendors that might want to be part of our event. We’re going to have food and fun and open it up to the community to come and visit us and help us celebrate. Keep checking in during the next few weeks because I’ll be firming up the date that we will do this (some weekend in September) and other details. It’s also almost time for us to begin our materials drive. The month of August is our official drive, but we’ll start taking things early if you all are REALLY anxious to start cleaning out your closets. This is our 2nd annual materials drive, and we are still so grateful this year for all the goodies we got last year. The types of things we’re looking for are mostly teaching materials, music toys, outdoor toys, art supplies, imaginary play toys, kids videos and cds, etc. While we accept stuffed animals, they aren’t something we really use much in our day to day teaching. Anything that you give us that we can’t use, we donate to other community organizations – usually Children’s Home Society or Community Based Care. We also know a few kids in the community who could use some items, so a few things might go to them. Some people have asked about clothes in the past, and while we don’t mind having a couple ‘emergency’ outfits in kids sizes and a few big, oversized paint shirts, if you’ve got lots and lots of clothes it’s better to take them to the GoodWill or another organization than to us. The other questions we get is whether we’ll take  furniture and the like. Filing cabinets, kids desks and art tables and similar items are always appreciated, but please don’t bring us a dresser or bed or other household items. Look around our office, if what you’re planning to bring fits in with what we already have, by all means feel free to bring it. This year, we’d especially love to get a big bulletin board or 2 and and maybe a couple adjustable height kids tables and chairs or desks. Finally, a few families ask us about food. If you work somewhere like Publix or Winn Dixie and want to bring in the day old cookies or something, please do! We love having treats for our staff and kids, and our kids do amazing work for little bites of snacks! I’m jumping around a lot today, but I just want to say that we’re really excited about our new campers starting on Monday! I almost forgot – update on Daytona! We have negotiated the terms of the lease and are getting ready to paint (anyone have Lowe’s or Home Depot connections!? LOL). We’re firming up the contracts and registrations from the kids over there, and we’ve actually got a good amount of kids for after school. I’m still hoping for a Ped-i-care kid or two and maybe another school kid, but we’re almost there. I’m excited about the new location. It’s going to be small and close-knit. Starting with half a dozen kids, I hope it’s going to create a sense of family between the staff, kids, and parents. This is such a big step for us, our first branch, and we’re really thrilled. We also have 4 kids who are interested in moving into the Orlando program in January – with just a few more, we’ll be feeling really confident about that program, as well. I think it will be a good opportunity for more Early Steps kids, too. Well, I know I promised more external links and pictures – I guess I’m going to have to start toting the camera around . . . BUT, I will provide a link. Here is my favorite of the day: http://www.thesurvivalofthesmartest.com/#/contest/gallery   Not autism related, but as most of you know, I am a lover of small business, entrepeneurship, and ingenuity. I’m proud that Office Depot is helping to support that. I know personally that it take a lot of work and care to make a job you love into a career, let alone a viable small business. Not to breed any contest for us, as we’re planning to apply to this promotion, but if you work for or own a small business, entering the contest on the link might be for you. Until next time, have a BEAUTIFUL day and enjoy your amazing kids. I’m off to go enjoy mine, below. (I know this picture is irrelevant to Florida Autism Center, but they sure are CUTE!)