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Press Release |
Contact: Kirsten B. Hartley, Development Associate 16111 Nacogdoches Road, San Antonio, Texas 75243 Office: 210-599-7766 Fax: 210-599-3105 khartley@atcoftexas.org What: Autism Treatment Center Announces Autism Initiative for San Antonio When: Monday, April 21, 2008 Why: Expanding to meet the growing need for autism services in the San Antonio area How: Visit www.atcoftexas.org or call 210-599-7766 For Immediate Release Autism Treatment Center Announces Autism Initiative for San Antonio Monday, April 21, 2008 the Autism Treatment Center (ATC) is excited to announce its Autism Initiative for San Antonio. The announcement of the The Initiative coincides with April being Autism Awareness Month and ATC’s first year participating in the Texas Cavaliers’ River Parade which was made possible by JoAnn Boone and Rio San Antonio Cruises who has graciously sponsored ATC’s float. ATC is also pleased to announce that it has been chosen as one of the proud recipients of a grant from the Texas Cavaliers’ Charitable Foundation. The Initiative will focus on expanding ATC’s facilities and services to meet the ever-growing need for Autism services in San Antonio, and will work toward creating a more thorough awareness of autism in the San Antonio community. Because early detection and early intervention of autism are crucial to solving this problem, ATC has decided to break ground in 2008 on Phase I of their new facility, the Autism Treatment Center Rehabilitation Agency, which will provide a venue for comprehensive diagnosis and assessment of children with autism. The approximately 6,000 square foot building will house six therapy rooms and an expansive sensory lab which will be used for intensive speech, occupational and behavioral therapy, allowing ATC to triple the amount of individuals it currently serves. The therapy rooms will also be used for diagnostics and assessment, allowing ATC to begin offering outpatient services in an effort to meet the vast needs of the San Antonio community. These rooms will be wired with video cameras that will send a live feed to a comfortable and private viewing room where parents will be able to tune in wirelessly to view, in real time, the diagnosis and assessment of their child. The building will also include a virtual simulation lab, incorporating the most recent technology offered for the treatment of autism. Alonzo Andrews, Director of ATC in San Antonio, has long been a champion for these types of technologies, and believes they are the future of autism services. It will accommodate tele-diagnostic procedures developed in collaboration with the University of Texas- Pan American and the University of Texas in Austin since 2001. Additionally, extrapolating from research in computer-assisted training with UT, the building will include a virtual simulation area for adaptive behavior training. The clinical environment has been designed to accommodate the perspective of children with autism, structuring space and time to support treatment. There will be a meditation garden where patients, parents, and staff can relax and get away from the everyday stresses that are brought on by dealing with this condition. The building will be made, keeping in mind the fact that individuals with autism often have heightened sensory perception, making them hypersensitive to lights, sounds, and textures. The materials that will be used are environmentally safe and considerate of individuals with chemical sensitivities. It will utilize natural light as much as possible, decreasing artificial light which tends to be loud and disruptive to people with audio and visual sensitivities. Textured walls and floors will communicate flow and movement throughout the building which is conducive to some individuals’ tactile senses. Autism Treatment Center looks forward to providing a forum for all service providers in San Antonio to come together and work towards providing the community with not only more services, but better awareness of this growing disorder. ATC currently is collaborating with University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio on research, and is contracted with Clinical Behavioral Analysis, LLC for speech and occupational therapy. ATC also works with school districts, universities, and medical professionals in support of external efforts to meet the needs of individuals with autism. Currently, ATC is partnering or collaborating with several universities, across the state, to facilitate research efforts and to provide training and observation time for students studying autism spectrum disorder. For more than 30 years, the Autism Treatment Center has served San Antonio by assisting individuals with autism throughout their lives 24/7/365 as they learn, play, work and live in the community. ATC provides: residential, educational, employment, diagnostic, therapeutic, consultation, information dissemination and research services for people with autism and their families. The Autism Treatment Center currently operates a day program, owns 7 group homes, and manages a Diagnostic & Therapeutic Rehabilitation Agency. Autism has increased exponentially and the need for services is growing rapidly. Autism is the most widely diagnosed developmental disability in the nation, now affecting 1 in 150 children, a ten-fold increase over the past 20 years. It is more common than the sum of all childhood cancers, muscular dystrophy, juvenile diabetes and cystic fibrosis combined. Every day, 66 children are diagnosed with autism, nearly 3 per hour. In addition, the Current Autism Facts: • 1 in 150 children is diagnosed with autism • Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S. • Autism costs the nation over $90 billion per year, a figure expected to double in the next decade • Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism • There is no medical detection or cure for autism Contact: Kirsten B. Hartley, Development Associate, 210-599-7766 or khartley@atcoftexas.org.
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