Respite Recipients

The following are the request testimonials from families who have received respite funds from ASBC:

2008 Respite Testimonials:

1st Quarter (2 awards)

(1) Our son is a wonderful, energetic 10-year-old diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum/Bipolar Disorder. We would love to hire someone to come and babysit him and our 6 year old daughter in our home. I am currently unemployed, we can't afford childcare, and my husband and I could use a night out or 2. We haven't been able to find resources to help us with any of our son's medical-social needs. Thank you for considering our application, and thank you for your organization!

(2) We are requesting to be considered for a respite grant for our son, age 28 years. He has autism. He will be accompanying us to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN where my husband will be undergoing a clinical trial. We expect to be in MN for at least 4 weeks and will need to return monthly thereafter. Our son will accompany us because it is the best care for him. We will need to secure some care for him when we need to meet with the doctors. This grant would be very useful to help our son to be safe. Any other resources you might know and could share would also be appreciated. This is happening very quickly and we will be leaving the area this weekend. However, our mail will be forwarded and our home phone number will ring on the cell phone.

2nd Quarter

Hello, my husband and I were so thrilled when we read in your newsletter the invitation to apply for this fund. We have a 5 year old ASD boy and as wonderful as he is, we could really use a night or two to ourselves. Our family is all back East and it is just the three of us out here. We have downsized on everything in order to afford the therapy services for him, living now in a just over 900 square foot home with only two bedrooms. Currently, my husband and I do not even have the evenings to ourselves as we have a "family bed" to accommodate our son's needs. A night out as man and woman, husband and wife would mean so much that I do not have enough words to describe it. Thank you for considering us for this fund.

2007 Respite Testimonials:

1st Quarter

A single Dad with two boys 3 and 4. Before he became a single Dad he had a career opening and running restaurants, but the hours were not conducive to single parenthood.  Now he drives a cab at night. He has a nanny that he takes his kids to overnight.  He tries to sleep in his cab at night between 3:00 and 7:00 if he doesn't have a call.  Then he picks the kids up at the nanny's in the morning and takes them to preschool. He tries to sleep again until has to pick up the children. The youngest still takes naps; the oldest is a busy boy.  I hope you consider my nomination for the "Give Me a Break" respite grant for this single dad & family.

2nd Quarter

Thank you so much for awarding us the "Give me a Break" respite fund.  The extra money was a great welcome and helped to ease our financial burden a bit.  With the extra money we were able to pay all of our bills on time-- which was a welcome relief.  We have incurred a tremendous debt providing services for our child that our insurance company has refused to pay claiming that cognitive behavior therapy was not "proven treatment" and in legal fees fighting our local school district for it's failure and refusal to provide our child with FAPE. At a point when we felt no one cared about our family or our child ASBC was there and provided a helping hand.  Just knowing the wonderful people that comprise ASBC cared about our plight and wanted to help was a great morale booster at a time when we needed it the most. 

3rd Quarter

2007 3rd Quarter "Give Me a Break" respite grant was used to attend the August USAAA Conference for one day with the help of your respite fund.  I used the money to pay for a babysitter for my ASD daughter, so that I could learn more about the biomedical options available to her.

4th Quarter

2007 4th Quarter "Give Me a Break" respite grant goes to a Boulder County family of 4, who struggles with the every day choices of food or gasoline.  As this family was nominated, ASBC honors their request to remain anonymous.

2006 Respite Testimonials:

1st Quarter

Our family would like to request the "Give Me a Break" respite grant to help defray the costs of hiring a caregiver for our son while my husband is out of town on business and I am teaching in the evenings. Our son is 15 years old and has Asperger's Syndrome. He was officially diagnosed about 4 years ago by Susan Hepburn and colleagues at JFK.

2nd Quarter

I am writing in request for the "Give Me a Break" respite grant. I have three sons, all with varying degrees of special needs. My oldest, is four years old and was diagnosed in January 2006 with autism. I also have 2 ½ year old twins. The twins have significant speech delays and sensory integration needs. Because of their speech delays, they are starting to show some concerning behaviors (escalating tantrums, incessant crying, etc). As you can imagine, these behaviors are disturbing to my son who has autism. Many times each day, one child will act out, which leads to another child to cry, which leads the third child to start screaming. I am at my wits end and feel that having some respite would do our whole family some good. My husband and I would be able to recharge our batteries and the boys would each have a refreshed mommy and daddy to give them our best.

3rd Quarter

Hello! We would like to apply for the "Give Me a Break" respite grant. Our only two children, 5 & 2 years old have both been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder within the last 8 months. We sort of expected the first one, but have been shocked and depressed with the second diagnosis. Our children have aspergers and autism. We have been doing a home curriculum for our son of 30 hours a week. (I have had to cut back on my job to only 2 days a week to perform all of the therapy at home) and we are doing over 10 hours a week with our daughter. Evenings when the kids go to sleep is spent reviewing ABA & RDI books. We need a break but are spending so many funds on both children's therapy (outside of what is paid for through services) and I am working so much less that funds are tight. We are also contemplating special needs trusts, etc which we feel we should spend funds on instead of ourselves. Any funds would be greatly appreciated and I think we would have a night out without our kids to regroup!

4th Quarter

Our son will be five years old in December, 2006. He was first diagnosed with autism at the age of two. He is quite a social kid for some one the spectrum. He loves cars and to ride and to hike. His mommy works very hard to make the family run smoothly and I am sure she would be very happy to receive the "Give Me a Break" respite grant for a short respite.