Provide much needed specialized and comprehensive education to 84 children and adolescents with autism in Venezuela. We aim to develop their skills and abilities to allow them to integrate effectively within their communities. In Venezuela program and specialized teacher scarcity combined with hyper-inflation is severely restricting access to special education/services. Project target is to provide all students with financial support of at least 30% of tuition and extend capacity.
Autism is a complex disorder of brain development characterized by varying difficulties in social interaction, communication and behavior. Autism affects 1 of 68 children; best hope for their effective social and family integration is through specialized education. Venezuela is on a dire situation to face the autism challenge; program and specialized teacher scarcity combined with hyper-inflation restricting access to special education/services. Children with autism are massively underserved.
We provide specialized, comprehensive psycho-educational attention to children/teens with autism (3 -18 years old). Eight students per classroom on 1 to 3 teacher/student ratio. A highly structured environment and schedule, and an individualized educational program for each student. Student progress is measured throughout the year based on skill acquisition. We are a private, non for profit program. All students receive need-based financial support in ranges of 30%-95% of total tuition cost.
We aspire to develop the skills and abilities of 84 children, teens, and their families to allow them to cope and function more effectively within the society; and those with higher functioning level integrate into regular schools. We also aspire to continue learning from global best practices, training teachers, providing internships, improving our educational model, and more broadly becoming a role model in autism education for others -in Venezuela and beyond- to follow.