I’m working with the Global Autism Project to travel to Chandigarh, India to help set up a school program for students with Autism in Northern India.
The Global Autism Project is a 501c3 Non-Profit organization, with a vision of a world where all people with autism can reach their potential, no matter where they live. The Global Autism Project has a model that is rooted in sustainability. They work to send volunteers with professional backgrounds in the field of special education to locations across the globe in need of assistance in creating lasting intervention programs. Volunteers with the Global Autism Project aim to empower teachers, parents, and local citizens to build sustainable education programs in the regions in which they visit. Many countries throughout the world don’t have a word for Autism. The Global Autism Project aims at teaching about the disorder, teaching professionals and parents about evidencd based interventions, and teaching that individuals on the Autism Spectrum can live meaningful, functional lives.
I personally have worked in the special education and Autism Spectrum Disorders for nearly 10 years a Speech-Language Pathologist. I have worked with completely nonverbal or minimally verbal individuals, from ages 6-21 who have never been able to communicate their basic wants and needs. In my work I have seen great progress in these individuals and have helped them decrease their rates of aggression and self-injury and increase their rates of functional communication, using Augmentative/Alternative Communication systems, functional sign language, or verbal approximations to make their needs known.
It is my dream to spread this knowledge to other speech therapist that have not had the opportunities to receive the same level of training as I have in my years working in a Pennsylvania Approved Non-Profit Special Education School.
