Causes: Education

Mission: We believe in creating a circle of care that encompasses the entire family, because, by helping the whole family, a child with special needs has the greatest opportunity to achieve.

Programs: Family support services include a range of social work services, including counseling, parent education, service coordination, support groups, resource and referral information and other programs designed to give parents the tools they need to meet the needs of their child with a disability as well as supporting other family members. Our early intervention home-based program delivers home-based services to expectant mothers and young children and families who are at high risk of delay due to challenging environmental or health factors, in order to maximize the child's growth and development and enhance the quality of parent-child interactions and family functioning. (continued on schedule o)(continued from part iii, line 4a) as a state and county certified mental health provider, the achievement centers also offers a range of mental health services, including an early childhood mental health program to address the challenges and promote the strengths of very young children experiencing significant mental health issues and often developmental delays.

recreation has been a focus since the agency's inception. Camp cheerful in strongsville, located on 52 acres, was the first accessible residential camp for people with disabilities in ohio. Camp cheerful provides several residential and day camp programs, as well as other specialized programs. Some of the therapeutic camp programs offered by the achievement centers include cheerful days, a day camp for children 5 to 21 years of age with disabilities; sensational day program, which provides educational and recreational services for children 5 to 21 years of age who have autism; a weeklong residential camp in conjunction with muscular dystrophy association; and numerous other residential camp programs for children, adolescents and adults. (continued on schedule o)(continued from part iii, line 4b) all camping programs provide much needed respite for families and caregivers. Weekend residential camping programs are also available year round. Champ camp, at our highland hills site and our westlake site provide summer day camp for children ages 5 to 21 with and without disabilities. A very popular year round, therapeutic horseback riding program, and a fully accessible high ropes challenge course are also important features at camp cheerful. Our adapted sports program, which includes basketball, football, baseball and soccer, offers children and young adults opportunities to enjoy and succeed in sports. Recently, we implemented a year round day program for adults with disabilities in this unique setting, where healthy and enjoyable activities are integrated into skill development in a variety of areas.

education programs consist of a variety of services including our very specialized and successful school for children, kindergarten through 8th grade, who have a diagnosis of autism; and the technical assistance program (tap), which facilitates inclusion of children with disabilities into community child care programs and schools. Recently we created and implemented a social emotional learning program for preschool classrooms in school districts. This program assesses the social emotional development of 3-5 years olds, identifies children who need additional support, and educates and empowers the teachers to tailor strategies to those students making sure to engage parents in the process. Social emotional development is critical to success in school and life.