Arizona Autism United would like to extend our greatest appreciation to NEXT for AUTISM for selecting us as a Night of Too Many Stars, NEXT for AUTISM grant recipient. 

AZA United received $32,500 towards the implementation of the Family Support Partners (FSP) program. The program will provide hands-on assistance by phone and in-person to families that need help navigating the system and coordinating care. FSPs are either social work/care management professionals or trained parents who have had their own lived experience of working with different systems and organizations to access treatment and support. 

The FSPs will work with parents to set personal goals that will empower them to develop skills to fully engage in services and make the most of available resources. Examples include techniques to prepare for team meeting, keeping records organized, knowing what questions to ask, understanding how different funding sources work and accessing helpful resources in the community. The program is designed to reduce the extreme stress that many parents face as they try to navigate the maze of systems related to getting effective autism treatment and support, and to maximize the impact of services that families can and should receive to ultimately improve child outcomes. This grant allows AZA United to pilot the program to launch this service, fine tune processes and evaluate impact. 

This FSP program has been made possible through a grant from NEXT for AUTISM from the proceeds of Night of Too Many Stars. Stay tuned for more information as this program develops!

Congratulations to our very own Dr. Ehren Werntz, who recently received his Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. 

Ehren is the Clinical Director of AZA United's  Family and Community Services. He has been with the organization for thirteen years. In addition to his Ph.D., Ehren holds degrees in Special Education and Psychology.

Ehren has the great pleasure of heading up a team devoted to helping families affected by complex behavioral issues. Ehren and his team work with individuals and families affected by autism in home, clinic, school, and community settings. 

Currently, Ehren's work focuses on ecological behavioral training, which includes the treatment of challenging behavior, skills training, and applications of clinical behavior analysis designed to help parents and families with autism. Family and Community Services include behavioral intervention and also take emotional relational variables into consideration. Services are accessed through the public behavioral health system and are funded by the state Medicaid program, including the county's Regional Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA).  

For more information, please contact us.

Matthew Press, an OT and Assistive Technology Professional with the Peoria School District, offers a website that contains resources that are designed to support the assistive technology needs of students in the Pre-K through 12th grade setting. 

Resources are organized by specialty areas, as well as, specific areas of interventions, although many of them overlap into multiple areas.    

Click here to learn more about Assistive Technology 4 Education