Autism day care center to open in fall

Therapeutic program in Eldersburg for children ages 2 to 7

The Goddard School is an educational-based child care center for children 6 weeks to 6 years old with some locations offering kindergarten and after-school activities. Because of construction delays for the school, The Avery Center expects to open in October.

‘‘We’re dependent on them moving out,” said Dan Wilson, president of The Avery Center.

The idea for the center grew out of personal experience.

Dan and his wife Debbie Wilson hope to alleviate the hardships for families with children who have autism by opening the center for children ages 2-7 who, like their daughter Dayna Avery Wilson, have autism. The Wilsons named the center after Dayna.

Students will receive occupational, speech and language therapy throughout the day; tuition costs $1,000 a month.

Alec Yeo, owner of The Goddard School, said he and Wilson decided to keep the tuition the same for both The Goddard School and The Avery Center.

Dayna was 2 years old and attending The Goddard School in Eldersburg, where Debbie Wilson taught when the Wilsons first noticed the signs of autism.

‘‘[Debbie] could see the difference between what [Dayna] was doing and what she was supposed to be doing,” Dan Wilson said in a November 2007 Gazette story.

With that began traveling from school-to-school and specialist-to-specialist, finding a babysitter who understands how to interact with children who have autism, and trying to pay for it all on one income.

‘‘If there isn’t a child care facility to take children with autism, what you end up doing is bringing them to various separate schools,” Wilson said.

Dayna attends a school out of her district — Hernwood Elementary School in Randallstown, which has a program for children who have autism, in addition to seeing a therapist and specialists.

To stop that cycle of going from place-to-place, Dan Wilson teamed up with longtime friend Yeo of Mount Airy to create the Avery Center as a one-stop center.

The center would be the first of its kind in the state to combine child care and therapeutic services for autistic children, Yeo said.

Located in Eldersburg since 1998, Yeo said The Goddard School, like most day care centers, does not provide the necessary services for autistic children to learn and thrive.

‘‘In general we are able to provide care, but not real education, as that requires a different background of training,” he said.

The Avery Center recently received its nonprofit status, launched an annual giving campaign, and is accepting applications for enrollment and employment.

So far, two children have enrolled in The Avery Center, Yeo said this week. The center’s goal is to open with 20 children, and enroll no more than 40 to maintain manageable class size. ‘‘We’re relatively sure we’ll be able to fill the center without a lot of difficulty,” Yeo said.

The Avery Center will place children in a classroom setting, with its goal of four children in each class for one-on-one lessons. The center will also offer parent to parent support, marital counseling and financial help.