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A Turning
Point for Home of the Innocents
February 10, 2007,
Louisville,
KY—Home of the Innocents expands its autism
services by
acquiring the operations of Turning Point for Autism.
Gordon Brown, President and
CEO of Home
of the Innocents states, “The blending of these
services is a
result of Home of the Innocents’ strategic direction to open
itself
to collaborative opportunities with other agencies that serve
children in crisis.” He continues, “The
goal of merging
HOTI’s autism services with Turning Point’s
exceptional staff,
treatment offerings, and services is to concentrate our resources,
which results in offering better services to more children and
families at lower costs.”
The incidence of autism has
grown from
one in ten thousand in the early 1980s to one in one hundred fifty
today. The Governor’s Commission on autism estimates 24,000
identified cases of autism in Kentucky.
In response to
Kentucky’s growing
need for effective autism treatments, Home of the Innocents and
Turning Point for Autism have combined their autism divisions,
effective January 22, 2007. Turning Point’s staff and current
clients have joined the Home as the nucleus of a proposed “Autism
Center of Excellence.” Applied Behavioral Analysis
treatment is
at the core of helping children with autism.
Applied Behavioral Analysis
has been
studied for 30 years and is recognized as the only
evidence-based
behavioral treatment for autism by the U.S. Surgeon General,
the
National Institute of Science and the National Research Council. It
is based on the science of analyzing behavior and responding
appropriately to minimize unwanted behaviors while increasing
desirable behaviors. Concepts and skills then are taught in a
structured and organized method. The same sources above report that
in order for children with autism to have the best chance at success,
they should receive between 30 to 40 hours a week of
intensive
behavior therapy.
About
Turning Point
Turning
Point was founded in October of 1999 by David and Betsy Gibbs in
response to a lack of services and treatments after their daughter was
diagnosed with autism. They were told that they should expect to
institutionalize their daughter and that there was very little they
could do beyond just “loving her”. At this point
their daughter
was almost 4 years old, mute and had met few developmental milestones.
Having had their daughter previously enrolled in Speech therapy and
Occupational therapy since she was 2 years old, and seen little if any
progress, the disempowering news delivered to them was devastating.
Bucking the advice of experts and finding no services or programs
available locally, Betsy researched and traveled nationally and
internationally to uncover best practices in the field of autism. What
she settled upon was a widely researched evidenced based practice by
the name of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Within a short three weeks
of their daughter’s ABA treatment program, she spoke her
first words. Capitalizing on the successes her daughter had made and
wanting to provide other parents with an option for this kind of
treatment, the Gibbses founded their non-profit and began providing 1:1
in-home and in-school ABA therapy for children in Louisville, Central
Kentucky< and Southern Indiana
.
The name Turning Point was chosen as they felt that ABA<
had been exactly that
for their daughter’s life. Gibbs was appointed by Governor
Fletcher in July of 2005 to serve on Kentucky's Commission on Autism
Spectrum Disorders. The Commission's report focuses on a ten
year plan whereby Kentucky will try to increase it's funding
stream and improve it's treatment resources for families living with
Autism Spectrum Disorders. "Kentucky has a long way to go to catch up
to what other states in our nation have been doing for years. I am
hopeful that our state government can look to the successes of states
like Minnesota and Wisconsin, to name a few and capitalize on the
progress made there."
In
1999, Turning Point’s primary ABA Treatment Program design
partner was the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) (www.centerforautism.com).
Based in California,
CARD remains the largest provider
of ABA services in the U.S. and has established offices on an
international level. CARD
was founded by Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, PhD, BCBA who studied under Dr.
Ivar Lovaas, known as the “father of ABA”.Today,
the majority of
Treatment Program design and on-going training is provided by
Amanda Ralston, BCABA and her company Verbal Behavior Consulting (www.verbalbehaviorconsulting.com).
Since
its inception, the organization has been a resource to pediatricians
and parents who were interested in finding answers to questions on
cutting edge bio-medical research, diet and nutrition planning. Turning
Point sponsored trips for Pediatricians, Compounding Pharmacists and
health food store owners to autism medical research conferences across
the country for years. In the late 1990’s Turning Point
connected Dr. Boyd Haley with the team of researches at the Autism
Research Institute and the now familiar mercury/vaccine connection
began. The dual and
simultaneous treatment of healing the child with autism through
bio-medical and psychological treatments has been primary in Turning
Point’s focus. Blending the two treatments, however, was new
to the world of autism in the 1990’s and has only recently
been accepted.
Turning
Point intends to remain active in the state and will
continue to focus on advocacy and awareness about Autism
Spectrum Disorders as well as a renewing
it's commitment to fund-raising scholarship money
for families to treat this devastating disorder.
About
Home
of the Innocents
Home
of the
Innocents is a private, non-profit agency. The Home’s goal is
to be
the region’s open arms to kids in crisis. They provide
services to
three major groups of children, including—
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Residential
and community-based services to children who have been
abused, abandoned, or neglected. These services include short or
long-term residential care, a home for pregnant and parenting teens,
crisis shelter services, and Therapeutic Loving Foster Care (TLC).
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Fully
operational hospital-like and home away from home
environment for medically fragile children, children who are
dependent on technology to sustain life, as well as children who are
terminally ill. The Kosair Charities Pediatric Convalescent Center
gives each child personalized care with an expert team of doctors,
nurses, and therapists. Each child receives on-site educational
opportunities and takes part in fun activities such as swimming, art
projects, and community outings.
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