Autism: Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects an individual in the areas of social interaction and communication. Autism is a spectrum disorder that affects each individual differently and to varying degrees of severity, most notably in how each learns, pays attention and reacts to various situations. Autism typically appears during the first three years of life. The result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, autism and its associated behaviors have been estimated to occur in as many as 2-6 in 1,000 individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). Since 1994, the number of children with autism receiving special education services has increased six-fold. Autism and other Pervasive Development Disorders are the second-most common serious developmental disability after mental retardation/ intellectual impairment. The Lazarus Project: The Lazarus Project is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 by a group of parents of children with autism. The Lazarus Project is a primarily center-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy facility providing individual intensive early intervention to children with autism using Verbal Behavior teaching techniques. We also provide training to parents/guardians. Our goal is to help improve the language and learning skill of each child and to replace maladaptive behavior patterns with positive communication skills. We passionately believe that children with autism deserve the best instruction from well-trained and qualified therapists who love what they do. We believe in providing high-quality therapy and a well-managed, well-organized program. Mission: It is our mission to empower parents to provide their children with autism, families and their communities with reliable, high-quality behavior therapy, to bring each child to his or her highest potential. Board of Directors: The Board of Directors currently consists of several parents of current and former clients. The Board works with staff to manage the organization and fundraise. Target Population: The Lazarus Project serves children who have been diagnosed with Autism or Pervasive Developmental Disorder-NOS. We serve children as young as 15 months and preferably under the age of 5 years at the time of admission. We anticipate services to continue for approximately 2-3 years, typically achieving maximum benefit by ages 8-10. Hours of Service: Clients participate in in-center services 4 hours a day (either 8am-noon or 1-5pm), 5 days a week, year-round. We also encourage an additional 3-5 hours a week in the family home to conduct parent training. Home Sessions are scheduled opposite the time of day the child is in the center. Programming: The Lazarus Project uses The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS) (Sundberg and Partington, 1998) to determine what skills a child has developed as well as the skills a child still needs to develop. The ABLLS is used to guide treatment planning and measure skill acquisition by targeting 486 individual skills with in 26 areas of instruction that are broken down in to 1, 2, 3 and 4 degrees (or levels) of competency/mastery. We focus on, but are not limited to, sections A through I which consist of basic language and learner-readiness areas that are most appropriate for instruction in the behavior therapy modality. These are skills which a neurologically typical child would acquire by the age of 4 approximately. Funding Sources: We are currently able to bill for Intensive Early Intervention / Behavior Therapy services (IEI/BT) through Medical Assistance (MA) and Tax Equity and Financial Responsibility Act (TEFRA) as well as a few private insurance policies. Staff: Our administrative and therapy staff consists of the following: Each child's treatment team consists of the BCBA, Lead Therapist and 1-2 Line Therapists. Our BCBA oversees all client programming, staff supervision and training and is on-site daily. The Lazarus Project is closed to therapy approximately 12 days a year (about 1 day a month) in order to provide ongoing training. All staff must pass a series of competencies to ensure that we are providing consistent, high-quality therapy. Parent Involvement: Research has shown that children whose parents are actively involved in their child's treatment have the potential to progress more rapidly. We require at least one of the child's parents to participate in training with the Lead Therapist a minimum of 1 hour each week. We also require at least 5 hours of documented therapy conducted by the parent(s) outside of therapy in the center or with Lazarus staff.
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