Building Capacity

In a collaborative effort to build the capacity of a group of families, community partners and providers in the Naples area, the John Maxwell Biasco foundation teamed up with the CARD-USF to co-present information specific to supporting individuals with autism spectrum disorders across educational, community and home environments. With this in mind, Maxie’s Partner’s in Education was created and funded via grant money secured to compensate most attendees as well as a representative of the John Maxwell Biasco Foundation to prepare and co-present the following topics:

• The Early Childhood Series, a set of seven, 2-hour information sessions that target topics specific to children aged 18 months to 7 years old;
  


• Positive Behavior Support for Camps, a 4-hour session covering an inclusive camp philosophy along with proactive and educative teaching strategies for camp staff;
  


• Collaborative Teaming, a 4-hour session where multi-disciplinary team members came together to pre-plan activities for individuals with special needs where supports and therapeutic services were integrated within activities and supported by typical developing peers;



• Awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders, a 2-hour session where typical developing peers learned about individual campers with autism and how to be a friend to a person with autism;



• Facilitating Friendship Development, a 2-hour session where educators, para-professionals and therapists discussed how to assist individuals with autism in initiating, making and maintaining quality social relationships; and,