National Autism Association - Northeast Ohio Chapter
WELCOME
The National Autism Association - Northeast Ohio Chapter
2010 HELPING HAND GRANT UPDATE
Applications are now being reviewed by the NAA NEO Board. You will be notified via email/mail by June 1st, 2010 if you are awarded by a grant this year. Please contact Andrea Pattison with any questions at apattison@autismnortheastohio.org.
What is our cause?
While the quest to find the cause of autism continues, thousands of families in Northeast Ohio struggle daily with the enormous stress and expenses that caring for a child with autism poses on them. The overall lack of financial supports prompted some of these families along with a few autism advocates and professionals to establish a non-profit organization, the National Autism Association - Northeast Ohio (NAA-NEO) Chapter, with the goal to provide sorely needed monies to help with medical treatment costs, therapies and respite services.
Why NAA?
Like NAA (www.nationalautismassociation.org), NAA NEO's founders also believe that autism is a bio-neurological disorder and that an integrated, whole-child philosophy to treatment and care is the optimal approach with the best outcomes.
The founding members of NAA NEO decided to form a local chapter of National Autism Association (NAA) also due to NAA’s successful track record in a short period of time in implementing its Helping Hand Program and due to NAA's advocacy for more meaningful autism research on a national basis.
How is NAA NEO different from other autism groups in the region?
The Helping Hand Program, NAA NEO's central service, provides direct financial assistance to parents to help defray the costs of autism treatment through grants.
NAA- NEO does not endorse individual programs, therapies, treatments, schools or facilities, or the theories or practices of any one individual or entity. Rather, families are empowered to seek and choose the most appropriate treatment or program for their child with the help of the resources provided by the NAA- NE Ohio.
NAA NEO is unique in that it is open in terms of the services that it supports through its Helping Hand Grant Program, thus allowing the parents to decide what services they feel are most important for their child. Services covered under the Helping Hand Grant Program therefore range widely from camp costs, tuition assistance, speech therapy, behavioral intervention to therapeutic horseback riding and medical/biomedical treatments.
We require that the family works with a licensed physician or therapist who recommends the particular service that the family would like to implement with NAA NEO's financial support.
NAA – NE Ohio operates autonomously from the national organization (NAA) in program implementation.
Our Mission
The mission of NAA-NEO is to help families that have a child or children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to access necessary treatment interventions. We will fulfill this by providing financial assistance to help defray the costs of such interventions and by connecting families to existing resources.
What is Autism
Every twenty minutes today there is a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in the United States. Autism is not an uncommon developmental problem anymore as it affects about 1 in 100 children in the US. Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disorder that may severely impair a young child’s communication, behavior, sensory processing, cognition, socialization, sleep, digestion, and immune function.
Whom We Serve
NAA – NE Ohio serves families affected by autism in Ashtabula, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, and Trumbull counties of Ohio.
Last updated June 2, 2010
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