January 24, 2023
The Oakland University Center for Autism has been awarded a $385,000 Oakland County Out of School Time Learning Supports grant by United Way for Southeastern Michigan, in partnership with Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.
Two areas within the Oakland University Center for Autism — the Joanne and Ted Lindsay Foundation Autism Outreach Services (OUCARES) and the Applied Behavior Analysis Autism clinic — will grow services thanks to this grant, which will be effective from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024.
“The past few years have been very hard for so many families across Oakland County and beyond,” said Kristin Rohrbeck, director of OUCARES. “We are confident this grant will allow the OU Center for Autism to grow critical out of school programming for our community, provide increased social opportunities, and offer an enriching environment for continued learning for youth with autism.”
For example, the grant funds will allow the Center for Autism to:
• Expand therapy services to provide cognitive, life-skills, and social-emotional skill development to youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) after school;
• Provide expanded recreational programs that teach critical social, communication, and emotion regulation skills (areas typically in deficit in the autism population);
• Grow the number of youths with ASD who can participate in summer camps.
The expansion of services may also include more virtual programming for Oakland County families, and increase the hours of operation for participants.
“All of these opportunities will help mitigate the negative impact COVID-19 has had on the learning loss of youth with ASD,” Rohrbeck said.
Rohrbeck is working with Dr. Jessica Korneder, director of the OU Applied Behavior Analysis Autism Clinic, to implement the grant.
“With the increasing number of youths diagnosed with ASD and a lack of applied behavior analysis therapy providers available, we are very excited for the opportunities that this grant provides Oakland’s University’s Center for Autism,” Korneder said. “This grant provides us with the opportunity to expand our services and increase the number of youths we can support.
“The intention of all of our youth programs is to help increase quality of life for the youth and their families and this grant provides Oakland University an avenue to help even more youth in this intention,” Korneder added. “We thank the United Way of Southeastern Michigan for awarding Oakland University with the Oakland County Out of School Time Learning Supports Grant."
For more information about the OU Center for Autism, visit www.oakland.edu/center-for-autism.