Our Commitment to People with Autism

A natural outreach of YAP's mission

Youth Advocacy Programs, Inc. (YAP) has committed its energies to the autism field at a time of enormous excitement and change. Once considered the most puzzling of the developmental disabilities, autism is becoming far better understood as advances are made in educational methods and positive treatment approaches. People with autism are demonstrating that they are not innately withdrawn or unsociable, but can learn to relate to others with warmth and enjoyment. An ever greater percentage of children with autism are learning to speak, and many who do not speak are communicating effectively with the help of assistive technologies. Parents and other experts are recognizing that people with autism have untapped cognitive potential, and are finding teaching methods and environmental modifications that circumvent specific sensorimotor and regulatory processing problems and maximize growth.

People with autism who were once severely at risk of segregation and exclusion are now being supported to live and learn in their local communities and schools, to achieve rewarding employment and to participate in everyday life. It is here that YAP's commitment to maintaining at-risk individuals in their communities meets and matches current best practices in the autism field, recognizing that people with autism should learn and develop in appropriate natural environments.

Youth Advocates provides two types of support to people with autism, their families, and their communities: direct services and an informational outreach consisting of trainings, consultations and publications.

DIRECT SERVICES TO CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES

Youth Advocate Programs' Pennsylvania autism services currently include Behavior Specialists, Mobile Therapists, Therapeutic Support Staff (TSS), Aides, and Advocates providing one-on-one services in the home, school, and community for children aged 2 through 21 years.

YAP's direct services are designed to:

• Engage passions
• Promote wellness and independence
• Focus on the whole person, not the diagnosis
• Provide one-to-one supports in meaningful, desirable, natural community environments
• Provide one-to-one supports that promote success and independence in academic settings
• Promote economic independence and awareness.

A hallmark of all YAP services is careful staff selection, extensive training, and regular on-site monitoring. Staff training emphasizes input from self-advocates and families, and was developed in conjunction with researchers from Temple University. Self-advocates are involved in the presentation of these trainings to share with YAP staff their "inside-out" perspective.

By partnering with families to carefully select short-term and long-term goals, YAP works to assure progress toward desirable outcomes. An in-depth report on program results and family satisfaction was completed in 2006 by the Center for Outcomes Analysis and can be read by clicking the Newsletters & Publications link.

YAP first began serving children with autism in the summer of 1997 through a single site in Central Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania locations have now expanded to Crawford, Mercer, and Allegheny counties in the West; York, Dauphin, Lancaster, Adams, Lebanon, Cumberland, Perry and Schuylkill counties in Central Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Montgomery and Berks in the East; Carbon, Monroe and Pike in the Pocono Mountain region; and Lackawanna and Susquehanna in the Northeast.

YAP direct services are currently expanding to offer services for adults on the autism spectrum. New programs are opening in New Jersey and New York, with expansion plans underway for other states as well as Europe. YAP welcomes further inquiries regarding provision of direct services in other states.

TRAININGS, CONSULTATIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS

In 2007 Youth Advocates enhanced its outreach to the autism community by creating the YAP Autism Institute to extend its popular trainings into new venues and a host of new topics. In addition, YAP expanded its capacity to provide consulting teams to schools and other settings where observation and consultation around a particular individual may be needed.

YAP Trainings and Consultations:

• Include self-advocates as consultants and co-trainers
• Train direct support staff in an array of skills and support strategies.

YAP Spreads Positive Information and Builds Community Resources by:

• Training local community groups and organizations (such as the Y, scout troops, community recreation programs, etc.) to foster and creates inclusion
• Creating publications for parents; encouraging parents, self-advocates and staff to publish and share ideas and successes
• Presenting at conferences to promote an understanding of autism from an "inside-out" perspective and emphasize the efficacy and importance of relationship-based approaches
• Forming partnerships and collaborations with parents, educators, community groups, health care providers, law enforcement and the juvenile justice system, service-providing agencies, and others who may impact the quality of life of people with autism
• Collaborating with self-advocacy and parent advocacy organizations .

To read more about the Youth Advocates Autism Institute and the trainings offered, click here. To download YAP newsletters and publications, click here.

HOW TO REACH US

To contact YAP concerning autism services, trainings or consultations, please e-mail Jessica Carlton-Humenik, Pennsylvania Director of Autism and Developmental Differences, at JCarlton@yapinc.org, or Janet Crawford, Vice-President, National Autism and Developmental Disabilities Programs/Vice-President, Autism Institute, at jcrawford@yapinc.org.