Experience Learning Project

New 2013 Summer dates are here!
Applications are due by June 7th

ELP is FEAT of Washington’s model service learning program targeted towards teens with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger’s Syndrome.

ELP involves teens in service learning while working to improve:

  • Self-management
  • Social problem
  • Improve social thinking

We currently have two locations:
Bellevue (which takes place in summer)
Tacoma (which takes place during the school year)

Goals and Intervention Areas within ELP
ELP works with teens to improve their self-management and social problem solving skills within a service learning context. In this program, we work with teens to improve social thinking, social problem solving, and knowledge of the concept of service and service provision.

Why Service Learning?
Service learning aims to build knowledge, character, and civic skills in young people by combining service to the community with learning in other key areas. By directly linking service to these other key areas, service-learning creates a place for service that is integrated into a program’s main goal: clinical intervention.

A good service learning program reinforces specific educational and clinical objectives – such as developing students’ social thinking skills, teaching them how to communicate more effectively, or improving students’ social problem solving skills – while also engaging students in meaningful and structured community service.

Service learning offers a unique opportunity for young people to get involved with their communities in a tangible way by integrating service projects with learning. Service learning engages students in the process, using what they learn in educational or clinical settings to solve real-life problems. Students become actively contributing citizens and community members through the service they perform.

We seek to help participating teens’ understand their place within the larger communities in which they live, as well as discover ways in which they may fully participate in those communities with a special emphasis on how they can give back to others. ELP teens have provided service at a diverse set of volunteer sites, including

Clinical Goals:
Because adolescents with HFA or Asperger’s often experience significant difficulty understanding and navigating social interactions, ELP uses the context of service learning to help our teens improve their social problem solving and social thinking skills. Thus the main clinical objective of ELP involves helping our participants improve their social competence.

The community partner sites where we volunteer form the context for working on these skills for 2013:

Week 1: July 8-12 Goal setting and communication
Week 2: July 15-19 Empathy and perspective taking
Week 3: July 22-26 Emotion Management
Week 4: July 29-August 2 Social Problem Solving

Daily and Weekly Schedule:
Each week, ELP teens spend the week volunteering at a different service site Monday- Thursday. A typical schedule Monday – Thursday looks something like this (exact times vary depending on the needs of the organization we are volunteering with):
10- 12 Classroom time (on site at volunteer location)
12- 12:45 Lunch break
12:45- 1 Recap of classroom time/ transition to volunteer activity
1- 3:30 Work with the volunteer team/ provide service (take breaks as needed)
3:30- 4 Reflective assignment

Throughout the week, the teens dedicate a little time each day together planning an event of their choice for “Fun Friday.” Past activities for Fun Friday have included:

  • Kayaking
  • Hanging out at the mall
  • Seeing a movie
  • Hiking
  • Canoeing
  • Going to a favorite restaurant
  • Arcade

Program Schedule and Calendar

Bellevue | July – August (Summer Break)
ELP Bellevue runs for four weeks Monday through Friday 10 AM to 4 PM

Tacoma | September – June (School Year)
Offered 4 times a month, on every other Tuesday and Thursday,
from 6:00 –8:00 PM,  Teens may join this ongoing program at any time. 

Tacoma Tuesday & Thursday dates for 2013
January 8th & 10th
January 22nd & 24th
February 5th & 7th
February 19th & 21st
March 5th & 7th
March 19th & 21st
April 9th & 11th
April 23rd & 25th
May 7th & 9th
May 21st & 23rd
June 4th & 18th
June 18th & 20th

Tuition 
Bellevue ELP: Weekly Rate - $516/4 sessions (6hrs each)
Tacoma ELP: Monthly Rate – $150/4 sessions (2hrs each)

Please contact our office on 425.223.5126 for DDD or School Funding rates.

Staff
Susan Malmquist | Clinical & Family Services Director
Zachary St.John and Maggie Milligan | Program Co-Directors, Bellevue
Katie McAndrew | Program Director, Tacoma

Contact and Information
Bellevue | please contact: 425.223.5126
Maggie Milligan at 801.440.7790 | maggie.milligan@featwa.org
Zachary St. John at 773.885.2314 | zr.stjohn@gmail.com

Tacoma | please contact: 253.329.6604 or
Katie McAndrew at 360.391.4792 | katie.mcandrew@featwa.org

For billing and application questions please contact:
Ruppi Barnickle at 425.223.5126 | admin@featwa.org

Enrollment Procedures:
1) Find and fill out the enrollment application here: Bellevue ELP Application 2013

2) You may turn in your application in two ways: Deliver the application during our business hours: M- Th 9:00am – 4:00pm F 9:00am – 12:00pm To: 14434 NE 8th St., Second Floor (of Lake Sammamish Foursquare Church) Bellevue, WA 98007

OR Mail your application to: Families for Effective Autism Treatment of WA PO Box 6159 Bellevue, WA 98008

Spread the word, share the flyer: ELP Flyer 2013