Take 2: Teaching Children w/ Autism Washington, DC

Dear Friends,

It’s that time again: Global Giving is matching ALL donations we receive today, Wednesday, June 13, at 50 percent.  This is a really important opportunity for Take 2.  If you are able, please help us raise the funds we need for this camp season, which begins June 25^th.  You can click here to donate: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/teaching-children-with-autism/.   You can also learn more there about Take 2. 

We did this match campaign once before, in October of last year, and it was enormously beneficial.  Our costs are low – other than staff salaries we have very few expenses – but we rely on this help from generous friends because camp tuition doesn’t cover our necessarily low staff to child ratio, and in addition we are committed to providing financial aid to any family that needs it.  This year, 60 percent of our campers are receiving scholarships.

We’re grateful for your support every day, but on this one day your generosity will be amplified, so please donate if you can.  Last year Global Giving matched our fundraising at 30 percent, but this year, because we are one of their organization “Superstars,” they will match for us at 50 percent. Please give early in the day, before the matching funds run out.

Global Giving continues to be a fantastic resource for Take 2.  In April we visited their offices and met with staff to learn more about how we can get even more out of this relationship.  They give us the benefits of an infrastructure we couldn’t possibly afford, and that allows us to devote more of our time and funds to running a terrific program.   As I write this, Monica is actually in Puerto Rico working with a group that is using the Take 2 curriculum to start its own program for children with autism this summer.  We are delighted to support that effort.

Thank you so very much for any help you can give us.   And, by the way, if you know how to do this sort of thing, please post  to your Facebook, Tweet to your followers, or do any of that tech-savvy stuff that we are still too old-fashioned to take advantage of!  Or just call or email friends and relatives and let them know about this opportunity to do good.  

Gratefully,

Lisa, Monica and Lynn

Since Take 2 began in 2004, clinician-researchers at the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center have been integrally involved in developing the program’s curriculum.  Several years ago, the CASD doctors, together with Take 2 staff and teachers and administrators at the Ivymount School, developed and began piloting a novel approach to teaching children with autism spectrum disorders the important skills of flexibility, goal-setting and planning.  Difficulty with these and other “executive functions” are common in children with high functioning ASDs.   The collaboration has so far proved extremely fruitful: based on early successes, the National Institute of Mental Health awarded the group a grant to take the next step in testing the intervention:  the curriculum, called Unstuck & On Target, is now being tested in mainstream schools.  In addition, the curriculum has been published and is available to parents and educators who would like to give its methods a try.  The approaches described in the book are designed to be enjoyable and accessible and to integrate well into children’s real lives.  You can see the cover of the book at the top of this Project Update and you can  read more about it on the publisher’s website and on Amazon, which you’ll find links for below.  The forward to the book is by New York Times best-selling author John Elder Robison.  A training program for parents is part of the Unstuck curriculum and there are plans to publish soon the manual that accompanies this training. 

We are very proud that Take 2 played a key role in launching this much needed and so far extremely promising new intervention. 

As always, we thank you for your support for Take 2.  Also, we'd like you to know that in June Take 2 will participate in GlobalGiving’s “bonus day,” when all gifts will be matched.   We’ll be in touch with you before that to ask for your help. Please see below for links and for a glowing review of Unstuck & On Target.

With gratitude,

Lisa, Lynn & Monica

Here are links where you can learn more about Unstuck & On Target: 

http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/cannon-72032/index.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Unstuck-Target-Executive-Curriculum-Flexibility/dp/1598572032

And here's a recent review from Amazon:

• Unstuck & On Target cover (PDF)
  
• Inside cover of Unstuck & On Target (PDF)