MyFriends: A presentation about our Social Networking Club for Teens

Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Location: CARD UF Gainesville Offices, 1405 NW 13th Street, Gainesville 32601 or ONLINE via Adobe Connect
Presenters: Ann-Marie Orlando, Liz Duda, & Kristy Lewandowski

The purpose of MyFriends is to create inclusive social opportunities for teens with autism and related disabilities. Parents of our constituents were seeking meaningful social experiences for their teenagers who had aged out of summer camps and were not attending summer school. The parents and students from UF’s graduate program in Communicative Disorders sought assistance from CARD to facilitate these efforts. Through this collaboration, we were able to organize social events and recruit teens who were typically developing from local high schools to serve as models. The goal for all teens was to increase opportunities for social interactions and develop friendships with peers. During this session, we will share with participants our process for selecting and organizing the events, recruiting teens, assessing the interaction during the events, and collecting data on outcomes. Outcomes from the events we've had and lessons learned will be shared with participants. This training is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Seating is limited. TO REGISTER to attend IN PERSON please send your full name, phone number, and title of the presentation you wish to attend to card-info@ufl.edu or call the CARD UF/Gainesville offices at (352) 273-0581 or 1 (800) 9-AUTISM to reserve a seat! If you would like to view the presentation via the Internet using Adobe Connect, please see registration information and instructions here: http://www.card.ufl.edu/training/tuesdaynight/

NEW Community Office Hours

In an effort to reach out to families and educators in all of our 14 counties, CARD is setting up office hours in local communities. We hope this new, pro-active approach will allow CARD to be more accessible to families and educators who would like a face-to-face consultation with CARD staff. We are still available by phone and email contact as well as individual school/classroom and home visits as necessary, however we are hoping to use our local office hours to reduce the amount of travel for both parties. During the office hours, we will have a place to meet with families and educators on an appointment basis. We are trying this approach in an attempt to meet the needs of our growing number of constituents and our shrinking number of staff by working more efficiently. Please see this chart (pdf reader required) to find the location closest to you. We look forward to meeting you.

Appointments will be made in one-hour blocks. To schedule an appointment, please contact Leannis Maxwell by phone at 352-846-3455 or by email at card-info@ufl.edu. Please leave or include your name, contact number, email address and time you would like an appointment. We will do our best to accommodate your time request based on available slots.