Summit Educational Resources receives largest grant in its existence

Summit Educational Resources, 150 Stahl Road, Getzville, has received a $660,000 grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation to support research on intensive social interventions for children with autism.

The grant is the largest received in the agency's 30-year history.

"This grant will aid us in developing and researching a curriculum to teach social skills to our students," said Dr. Marcus Thomeer, director of research and program evaluation.

During a three-year period the funding will be used for three major projects: development and evaluation of a social skills curriculum; research into the efficacy of an intensive program for students with Asperger's Syndrome; and a study of anxiety in students with autism.

One of the steps will be addressing the communication and social challenges autistic children face.

"In addition, this grant will help us investigate the efficacy of our Connections Program, an intensive, six-week summer treatment program for students with Asperger's Syndrome," he said.

The Connections Program is a collaboration with Summit, the University at Buffalo, and Canisius College.

"Finally, we will conduct a comparative study of anxiety levels in children with autism spectrum disorders and typical children," Thomeer said. "Anxiety disorders are fairly common among students with high-functioning autism and Asperger's Syndrome. We want to investigate how levels differ between typical children and children with autism by comparing cortisol levels."

Summit provides services to children from birth to age 21 with developmental disabilities.