For nearly 3 years, James Ellis has been traveling quarterly to Georgetown, Guyana to provide a week of consultation for a young boy with autism whose family is there on a temporary placement with the British Embassy. His primary focus has been to develop and oversee the educational program for this child and to train and support the staff working with him. There are no mandated services for children with special needs in Guyana, and there is no such a thing as an individualized education plan. Schools for children with special needs exist, but none are geared toward children with autism. The services that are available are not based on a model of applied behavior analysis, and there are no resources within the country to guide the development of these services. Ellis has been working diligently with the child's mother to develop services for children with autism in Guyana, and they have started a pilot classroom with the hope of replicating it throughout the country.
Since September of 2010, the British Embassy has been donating classroom space, and three young boys with autism are receiving services. Local businesses have donated furniture and money for basic supplies. Two of the tutors staff the classroom, and their wages are being covered by donations and by a small stipend paid by the boys' parents. Oversight is provided pro bono during Ellis' quarterly visits, through twice-monthly Skype sessions, and through weekly sharing of data, documents, and videos via Dropbox. Skype and Dropbox are free, and Melmark, New England has donated a Flip video camera. Maintaining communications on a long-term basis will require a laptop and printer, and this is where SABA comes in! Funding provided by the 2010 International Development Grant will cover the purchase of a laptop and printer. This grant moves the program one step closer to providing ongoing educational services based on a model of applied behavior analysis to children with autism in Guyana.
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