who we are and our mission...
who we are...
Kenny’s Connection was specifically established to reach out to families of children
with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorder) within Tiverton, Rhode Island and
surrounding East Bay communities by providing those families with a resource for
not only awareness/education but primarily assistance with obtaining cost
prohibitive therapies and quality of life improvement options that prove to be quite
effective.
The growing rate of Autism is an epidemic and there just isn’t enough reach into the
smaller communities and that is where Kenny’s Connection intends to make a
difference – one buddy, one family, one community at a time.
Kenny’s Connection is a small organization making a big difference within the lives
of individual families within our community. The larger organizations have all they
can do to attack this growing epidemic on a global level, let’s leave them to the
global challenges and join together as a community and help ourselves.
diagnosis and early intervention are integral...
Due to the rapid increase of ASD diagnosis among children, resources and
education are limited, specifically within smaller communities. Early intervention
is integral to the child’s overall development and if diagnosed earlier rather than
later, the child will yield an improved quality of life. ASD is not curable, but with early
intervention and the right treatment plan the child will have better long term results.
Many child care professionals, educators, and parents aren’t even aware of the
initial symptoms, which traditionally occur between 18-months of age and 3-years
old. The number of children diagnosed under the age of 3, in Rhode Island
according to the Department of Health’s Early Intervention Program, which is
intended for children up to the age of 3 with developmental delays, indicates that
most children are not diagnosed until after the age of 3. In March of 2000 and
September of 2002, out of 3,950 children enrolled in the Early Intervention, 45 were
identified as having an ASD.
In 2005, 925 students with ASDs were receiving special education services in the
State of Rhode Island.
special education and classroom integration...
A child with an ASD has entitlements, “no child left behind” right? But children with
ASDs are sometimes just that, “left behind”, schools and smaller communities are
not familiar with the condition and/or do not have adequate services and/or trained
professionals to accommodate the child’s condition. Generally, this is no fault of the
community or the school system, the growing rate of Autism diagnosis has
increased significantly in the last 10-years. In Rhode Island alone (according to the
RI Department of Education Special Education) the documented diagnosis of
children with ASDs (between the ages of 3-21) between 1993 and 2003 grew
1900%.
ASDs appear differently within each child, there are many variations and some
children with ASDs can appear quite “typical” or what is sometimes referred to as
high-functioning, to the naked eye the child simply appears to be odd or awkward.
Other children can be very low-functioning requiring a great deal of resource from
the community and educators.
For children with ASDs that are high-functioning this creates a different set of
challenges as opposed to those that are lower-functioning. Traditionally they are
integrated within a “typical” classroom among “typical” children who do not
understand or even recognize that the child with ASD is disabled. This leads to
ridicule and difficulty for the child with ASD. By educating classmates of children
with ASDs and making everyone aware of this growing disability we improve the
ability of the child with ASD to integrate more easily and participate more freely
resulting in their overall success, their ability to communicate more effectively and
learn.
Children with ASDs that are lower-functioning require more resource in both the
community and the school system. Some school districts are not equipped to
manage the needs of a student with an ASD that is lower-functioning and parents
have to seek private education. Other schools may be equipped with adequate
facilities but may not have access to the most recent technologies and educational
tools.
With enough community effort, we can improve the quality of life for all the children in
our area that suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder.
(Please note that Kenny's Connection is always working diligently to obtain current
statistical data.)
Kenny’s Connection was specifically established to reach out to families of children
with ASDs (Autism Spectrum Disorder) within Tiverton, Rhode Island and
surrounding East Bay communities by providing those families with a resource for
not only awareness/education but primarily assistance with obtaining cost
prohibitive therapies and quality of life improvement options that prove to be quite
effective.
The growing rate of Autism is an epidemic and there just isn’t enough reach into the
smaller communities and that is where Kenny’s Connection intends to make a
difference – one buddy, one family, one community at a time.
Kenny’s Connection is a small organization making a big difference within the lives
of individual families within our community. The larger organizations have all they
can do to attack this growing epidemic on a global level, let’s leave them to the
global challenges and join together as a community and help ourselves.
diagnosis and early intervention are integral...
Due to the rapid increase of ASD diagnosis among children, resources and
education are limited, specifically within smaller communities. Early intervention
is integral to the child’s overall development and if diagnosed earlier rather than
later, the child will yield an improved quality of life. ASD is not curable, but with early
intervention and the right treatment plan the child will have better long term results.
Many child care professionals, educators, and parents aren’t even aware of the
initial symptoms, which traditionally occur between 18-months of age and 3-years
old. The number of children diagnosed under the age of 3, in Rhode Island
according to the Department of Health’s Early Intervention Program, which is
intended for children up to the age of 3 with developmental delays, indicates that
most children are not diagnosed until after the age of 3. In March of 2000 and
September of 2002, out of 3,950 children enrolled in the Early Intervention, 45 were
identified as having an ASD.
In 2005, 925 students with ASDs were receiving special education services in the
State of Rhode Island.
special education and classroom integration...
A child with an ASD has entitlements, “no child left behind” right? But children with
ASDs are sometimes just that, “left behind”, schools and smaller communities are
not familiar with the condition and/or do not have adequate services and/or trained
professionals to accommodate the child’s condition. Generally, this is no fault of the
community or the school system, the growing rate of Autism diagnosis has
increased significantly in the last 10-years. In Rhode Island alone (according to the
RI Department of Education Special Education) the documented diagnosis of
children with ASDs (between the ages of 3-21) between 1993 and 2003 grew
1900%.
ASDs appear differently within each child, there are many variations and some
children with ASDs can appear quite “typical” or what is sometimes referred to as
high-functioning, to the naked eye the child simply appears to be odd or awkward.
Other children can be very low-functioning requiring a great deal of resource from
the community and educators.
For children with ASDs that are high-functioning this creates a different set of
challenges as opposed to those that are lower-functioning. Traditionally they are
integrated within a “typical” classroom among “typical” children who do not
understand or even recognize that the child with ASD is disabled. This leads to
ridicule and difficulty for the child with ASD. By educating classmates of children
with ASDs and making everyone aware of this growing disability we improve the
ability of the child with ASD to integrate more easily and participate more freely
resulting in their overall success, their ability to communicate more effectively and
learn.
Children with ASDs that are lower-functioning require more resource in both the
community and the school system. Some school districts are not equipped to
manage the needs of a student with an ASD that is lower-functioning and parents
have to seek private education. Other schools may be equipped with adequate
facilities but may not have access to the most recent technologies and educational
tools.
With enough community effort, we can improve the quality of life for all the children in
our area that suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder.
(Please note that Kenny's Connection is always working diligently to obtain current
statistical data.)
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:: about us ::
| Identifying, Evaluating, Connecting - One Buddy at a Time! |
The Autism news headlines shown above are provided courtesy of Medical News Today and are subject to their terms and conditions
the significance of our logo...
The design of the logo proved to
be quite challenging, since we
were trying to capture the vision
of Kenny's Connection within the
logo. The traditional
multi-colored puzzle pieces
weren't working as a theme that
complemented the vision (or
Kenny's personality for that
matter).
The presence of a single puzzle
piece as the apostrophe and
"dot" to the "i", captures Kenny's
unique identity and his
interesting approach to life.
The puzzle piece cluster
represents our 3-tiered
approach, or what we termed
3-piece-puzzle approach: the
individual, community
involvement, and sponsorship to
provide funding for education
and/or special therapies, e.g.
Hippotherapy.
The single red color represents
the objective to serve one child at
a time and to remain small
serving our surrounding
community.
The design of the logo proved to
be quite challenging, since we
were trying to capture the vision
of Kenny's Connection within the
logo. The traditional
multi-colored puzzle pieces
weren't working as a theme that
complemented the vision (or
Kenny's personality for that
matter).
The presence of a single puzzle
piece as the apostrophe and
"dot" to the "i", captures Kenny's
unique identity and his
interesting approach to life.
The puzzle piece cluster
represents our 3-tiered
approach, or what we termed
3-piece-puzzle approach: the
individual, community
involvement, and sponsorship to
provide funding for education
and/or special therapies, e.g.
Hippotherapy.
The single red color represents
the objective to serve one child at
a time and to remain small
serving our surrounding
community.