Easter Seals North Texas To Add Third Classroom, Begin New Enrollment at its Texas Star Academy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) May 11, 2010 -- Easter Seals North Texas
1424 Hemphill Street
Fort Worth, TX 76104-4703
817-332-7171

Contact: Lenee Bassham
817-759-7951
lbassham@ntx.easterseals.com



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:


Easter Seals North Texas To Add Third Classroom, Begin New Enrollment at its Texas Star Academy

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas Star Academy Pre-school, a uniquely successful service of Easter Seals North Texas, will open a third classroom June 2 at its Grapevine location and is enrolling for summer and fall semesters.

Texas Star Academy serves children 18 months to five years of age, with an emphasis on increasing language, engagement and socialization while learning skills necessary to excel in kindergarten. It allows typically-developing children and children with autism to form natural relations in a learning environment and is the only inclusive pre-school in Texas supervised by Board Certified Behavior Analysts.
Easter Seals locally has been providing services and support to children and adults with disabilities and special needs, and to their families, for more than 70 years. Today, Easter Seals is the country’s leading provider of services for people with autism.

The Texas Star Academy was run by the DFW Center for Autism for the past 10 years. In January 2010, the DFW Center for Autism merged with Easter Seals North Texas. “This merger provides a wonderful opportunity to build upon an already successful inclusion pre-school and grow outreach and in-home parent education, “said Monica Prather Smyth, Easter Seals North Texas President & CEO.
“Nationally and locally, Easter Seals is at the forefront in providing autism treatment services.”

The school’s mission is to improve the lives of children with autism through Applied Behavior Analysis, allowing them to reach their full potential and to gain the skills needed to build relationships with family, friends and peers. It is a community partner of the North Texas Autism Project and utilizes faculty support and treatment staff from its university affiliations.

Texas Star Academy is a replication site of the Walden model at Emory University’s Autism Center. The Texas Star Academy is unique because it is the only program in Texas that provides a full-inclusion pre-school program. This aspect is critical because the Academy becomes a place where children on the autism spectrum, who already have deficits in their ability to communicate and interact with others, can learn important socialization and language skills throughout the day in a natural setting. This training includes up to 35 hours of Applied Behavior Analysis treatment a week as well as naturalistic or “incidental” teaching techniques that incorporate learning into a child's typical, every-day environment.

Texas Star Academy Pre-school is located at 303 West Nash Street. For more information, go to www.ntx.easterseals.com or call 972-939-3930.


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