The Laurel Foundation Autism Collective
The Laurel Foundation Autism Collective is the operating division of Laurel Foundation. One of the biggest challenges for parents of autistic children is finding resources and support, and which therapy options work best. Resources and support can vary greatly due to many factors including geographic location, age of child and cost.
The Laurel Foundation Autism Collective is a free online resource, designed to assist parents of autistic children in finding effective therapies and programs. All families with children on the autism spectrum, whether diagnosed or not, are invited to participate.
The Survey
Families are invited to complete a survey indicating the behaviours of their child, the services and therapies they currently use and their perceived effectiveness. All information is confidential, and a secure password will be selected by each family so they can access and update their information over time.
The family stories are categorized according to:
- Child’s age
- Autistic characteristics
- Current therapies and programs
- Perceived effectiveness of therapies and programs
The Personal Resource List
The program will sort the information provided by the family to identify and cluster children of the same age with the same characteristics into groups, and identify the therapies that other families have found to be helpful. The program is not an evaluation of individual therapies, but the perceived effectiveness of the program for each individual child. A list of free online resources will be generated for each child based on the survey responses. A full list of resources is available at any time.
Sharing
Not all families have access to support services due to location, availability of resources and diagnosis. The online resources are available to all families whether living in a rural community or a busy urban center. Anonymity of the family and child are respected at all times.
Ultimate Goal
The ultimate goal of the Laurel Foundation Autism Collective is to provide a free resource of therapies to all families of children on the autism spectrum.