Articles of Interest
12/28/2009 - Local Musician, Comedian Team Up in Concert to Benefit Eden Autism Services Florida
Two local acts will be acting up to raise money for programs and services benefiting the children and adults of Eden Autism Services Florida on Mon., Dec. 14. For one night only, the Catman & Jimmy Keys Show takes the stage at Sugden Theatre.
Mario “The Catman” Infanti has been a guitarist, singer and songwriter all his life. His style reflects funk, blues, jazz and R&B influences, with vocal stylings reminiscent of Bobby Caldwell and Aaron Neville. Together with the rest of his “Doodz,” the Catman has opened for several well-known bands and been a favorite at Jazz and Blues festivals for nearly 10 years.
Born in Britain, Jimmy Keys was named Gulfshore Life magazine’s “Entertainer of the Year” in 2008. His show incorporates both comedy and music from the present day to Broadway. He has performed hundreds of shows around the world over the course of his career.
Tickets are $75 per person. Show goers can enjoy wine by Rodney Strong and hors d’oeuvres by Outback beginning at 6 p.m., with the show starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Sugden Theatre box office at 701 5th Ave. South, Naples, Fla., 34101, or call 239-263-7990 239-263-7990.
12/21/2009 - Home-Tech donates air conditioning
Home-Tech, a Southwest Florida installer of air conditioning service, major appliance sales and service, and home-service agreements, is now supporting local charity Eden Autism Services Florida in a new way – by providing air conditioning and appliance maintenance and repair services free of charge.
Thanks to Home-Tech, keeping residents at Eden’s Spanbauer House, a group home for adults with autism, cool and comfortable is even easier. “We’re very thankful to have such well-trained technicians servicing the building, especially at no cost,” says Eden Autism Services Florida Executive Director Armando Galella. “With six adults and all with caregivers sharing a home, we have large amount of dishes and laundry and all around maintenance which can be very expensive to run a home.”
Home-Tech has long supported various groups in the Southwest Florida community both with monetary and in-kind donations. “We’re passionate about giving back to the community that has made us successful and continues to trust us to keep their home’s appliances in good repair,” says Home-Tech founder and CEO Steve Marino. “We’re also passionate about the extensive training our technicians receive before they begin servicing homes. Just like our paying customers, the charities that we service at no charge need problems fixed right the first time. We train our technicians to do just that.”
12/21/2009 - Parents left with questions where to bring kids
COLLIER COUNTY, FL- We now know the executive director of a special needs school near Golden Gate is one of the people being charged with fraud. Jean Mekeel is accused of stealing $50,000 from the school that was supposed to be used to pay taxes.
The incident is being investigated, and the school closed without warning Friday due to the circumstances.
Parents, teachers and child care providers held a meeting Monday night at Step By Step to help place these special needs children.
Some parents left felling they got direction where to take their kids, now that the school is closed. "Everybody's been real good about where do you go from now," Genevieve Golzales tells me.
However, others feel lost in the shuffle and desperate to find another facility. Jenny Eglous says, "They gave us a list to pick a daycare for our child but they didn't explain to us nothing."
Armando Galella with Eden Autism Services came to the meeting to try and help parents find placement, but for some kids he says, it will be very hard because of Step By Step's unique care.
Eden Autism Services, along with other agencies at the meeting are familiar with this kind of situation. They have taken students from Journey's Academy, another special needs school that closed recently due to similar circumstances.
12/18/2009 - WEST WINDSOR: Eden cites CDC report on increased autism cases
WEST WINDSOR — Representatives from Eden Autism Services say a new Centers for Disease Control study shows a growing need for services
”We’re getting inundated with requests for help with teacher training, family training and curriculum content,” said Tom McCool, president and CEO of Eden Autism Services.
As part of Eden’s mission to improve the lives of children and adults with autism and their families, the group provides early intervention, individualized education, group residences and employment opportunities as well as an outreach component that offers expertise and assistance to parents and professionals in the autism community.
Dr. McCool said the report, which shows one out of every 110 children is affected by autism, is similar to what is being reported in New Jersey with big increases coming over the past 10 years.
He said a partial cause for the increase is the number of people diagnosed with autism has increased to include people with high IQs and high communication abilities, but who still have signs of the disease.
”If you really look at autism variables, one’s IQ can be mentally retarded through exceptional, their communication ability can be nonexistent to very eloquent, and behavior can be very out of control and self-injurious and aggressive to socially appropriate,” Dr. McCool said. “So if you really look at these three areas, you have thousands of potential combinations in the spectrum so we’re adding people with high IQ and high communications, and the definition of all of these cases has expanded.”
Dr. McCool said the change in definition may account for about 10 percent of the increase. In addition, earlier and better diagnoses could account for 5 to 6 percent of the increase.
According to Eden, the CDC’s results are based on a 2006 study conducted on approximately 3,000 8-year-olds. The new statistics are a 57 percent increase from the CDC’s last study conducted in 2002 and a 600 percent increase over the past 20 years.
Dr. McCool said there is no clear-cut cause for the increase in autism, but the scientific community believes it is a combination of genetics and environmental.
”It’s a combination,” Dr. McCool said. “There is a pool of people who have a predisposition toward it, and the trigger is environmental. That’s what the current thought is.”
But no matter the reason for the increase, Dr. McCool said there is a clear need for treatment, services and diagnoses. Traditionally, research typically focuses on research or treatment, where, in areas such as cancer research, the two typically are joined.
”As we look at the increase in the number of people that need services, in children and those moving to adulthood, we really need to balance the research and treatment focus so that we not sacrificing treatment for research,” he said. “We need a balance.
12/01/2009 - SW Florida students recognized for doing the right thing
NAPLES — Brian Klepper went from volunteer to hero in a matter of seconds.
In July, Brian, 17, a volunteer at Eden Autism Services was in a pool helping children do water therapy when he noticed a child floating face down.
The child, who had a stroke, wasn’t moving and was starting to sink.
Brian jumped to action, pulling the child to the surface and calling for a lifeguard. The lifeguard helped pull the child from the pool and performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.
Brian was recognized for his heroism Monday by being named the overall winner of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office’s Do the Right Thing award.
“It feels great,” he said of winning the award. “I am nervous, though, too.”
Brian was recognized with nine other students during a ceremony. The program, which was adopted by then-Sheriff Don Hunter in 1998, honors students who exhibit exemplary behavior or perform acts of heroism.
“I enjoy doing this because it is a verification of what the youth in this country are about,” said Chief of Investigations Jim Williams, who presented the students with a trophy, framed award, medal and other honors. “They are an inspiration for all of us.”
The students honored were: Shawn Craig, a sixth-grader at North Naples Middle School; Victor Meza Jr., a seventh-grader at Manatee Middle School; Brian Davenport, a seventh-grader at Golden Gate Middle School; Sarah Davenport, an eighth-grader at Golden Gate Middle School; Mathew Hayes, a seventh-grader at Golden Gate Middle School; Rudy Saucedo , a freshman at Gulf Coast High School; Marshall Harbec, a junior at Lely High School; Brian Hunt, a senior at Palmetto Ridge High School; Vincent Buonpane, a senior at Gulf Coast High School; and Brian, a senior at Lorenzo Walker Technical High School.
The students received the accolade for everything from returning money that had been dropped and cleaning up canals to performing the Heimlich maneuver on a choking friend during lunch.
To receive the award, students had to be nominated by a community member or their teachers, according to Cpl. Joe Rakow, who oversees the program and is the youth relations officer at Corkscrew Elementary School. Students do not have to attend Collier County Public Schools. Private school and home school students are also eligible, Rakow said.
“When you do something nice, you should be recognized,” Rakow said. “These kids went above and beyond the call of duty.”
When Shawn, 12, returned $40 to an assistant at Pelican Marsh Elementary School who had dropped the money last spring, he didn’t know he would get an award for it.
“I just thought it was the right thing to do,” he said. “Never in a million years did I think I would get an award for giving some money back. ... I think being honest is the best thing.
When 16-year-old Rudy found what appeared to be a handgun at the back of an apartment complex, he turned it in to the office manager, who notified the Sheriff’s Office.
“When I first saw it, I thought it was a snake,” he said. “I thought I could take it home or I could give it to someone, so I gave it to the office.”
The handgun was actually a BB gun and had been used in armed bank robberies. The suspects in the robberies eventually confessed to using the gun.
“When the cops came, I was scared. I thought I was in trouble,” Rudy said. “Then they told me about Do the Right Thing and I was really happy. And I think my mom is really proud of me.”
Vincent, 18, left a note for another motorist after hitting a car at a McDonald’s last spring.
“It was the right thing to do,” he said. “I would have to leave someone stranded.”
Nomination forms and more information about the Do the Right Thing program can be found at http://www.colliersheriff.org. The program honors 10 students a month through April.
11/16/2009 - Urban farming helps autistic students
By WINK News
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