Our Organizational History Threshold was first founded in the state of Oregon on February 14, 1992, as a nonprofit corporation, by the appropriate filing of Articles of Incorporation filed with the State of Oregon. At that time the corporation was registered as a charitable organization with the Oregon State Department of Justice. In April of 1993 we were granted retroactive federal 501(c)(3) fully tax-exempt status which defines our primary activity as operating educational and therapeutic programs and related provider education services for a handicapped population. We provide these services in the role of Autism community ally in a more family-centered service model. These activities continue to be our main focus and represents our current charitable status. Along the way our founders found ourselves guided by a few western films that came out just as we were tempted to give up. But their deeper universal messages of hope came through: "There is the life you learn with and then there is the life you live with after that." (The film The Natural) THRESHOLD's development was very rapid and creative from its inception. As with the vast majority of private schools and nonprofit organizations serving the Autism community, THRESHOLD was founded by the family of a child with Autism right in their own community because they felt they had experienced poorly coordinated educational, hard to access therapy services and under funded and less than adequate public intervention programs. The history of our family-led organizational evolution is remarkably similar to most other existing programs that have been successful in the field of Autism from around the world, we learn as we go in pursuit of new Knowledge, Awareness, Skills, and Ableness right along with the people with Autism we need to serve well. Threshold is a parent led and family-centered nonprofit that has worked hard on a service mission of mutual learning and authentic relatedness that became possible as we pursued it with our Autism community. THRESHOLD's founder, Sharone Lee, arranged training, observations, consultation visits, phone interviews and ongoing correspondence with the directors of and families involved in model Autism programs in Canada, England, Japan, Australia and five university centers all over the US. Our goal was to quickly understand and carefully analyze a variety of proven, effective, and practical intervention strategies. Then we applied universal best practice standards that had been established through meta-analysis of effective Autism programs (see COSAC) to select the approaches we would use. Threshold selected a foundational developmental model from The University of North Carolina/Division TEACCH to design our models of services and programs for individuals with Autism their family, and professional providers. Our model is built on UNC's strong and life span developmental practice called "Structured Teaching". We then researched, training in and added only complimentary educational strategies and developmental intervention tools that might enhance our use of this comprehensive structured teaching approach, such as Carol Grey's Social Stories™ and our own Big Themes Fun•ctional Curriculum. "Build it and They Will Come...Ease Their Pain...Go the Distance. (The film Field of Dreams)" Within three months after incorporation THRESHOLD had raised over $20,000 from individual contributors for equipment from a single mailing to 300 targeted prospects. Families committed approximately another $75,000, for operations over the next three years. So with experience from an operational apprenticeship at a local therapy center, a combination of contributions, loans, tuition commitments, and in-kind contributions of equipment and supplies and seven sources of public medical and educational funding we were set up to offer a 30 hour a week model intensive intervention site within six months after incorporation. In many ways, over the next four years, we learned that if "it takes a village to raise a (typical) child," then it takes a whole community to be ready, able and willing to offer effective services to our children with Autism. We seek to find that community support. On September 14, 1992, just seven months after its founding, THRESHOLD proceeded to open the Step-Up Foundational Program For Young Children with Autism and related disorders. It was THRESHOLD'S first intensive early-intervention program. This was made possible through a year-long contractual collaboration with Mid-Valley Children's Guild, a local non-profit children's therapy center. This initial informal joint venture agreement was chosen in order to shorten our start-up time, while increasing our own lead time for putting administrative and operational systems in place and to hire the expert staff needed to take over the program. After one year THRESHOLD was able to assume sole operation of Step-Up. This community alliance meant that from the very beginning we were always able to serve all families who applied and were fully enrolled. That has remained our hallmark. In 1994 we added several direct family support pieces, including a service base called First Step for families of children birth to five needing a diagnosis and evaluation and transition services for the first year and for periods of crisis relating to Autism. In the next two years we enrolled 25 children into our programs with an average number of 14 to 16 children enrolled at any one time. In addition, THRESHOLD provided free parent support groups and training for parents and professionals in best practice in the training and support of individuals with Autism and a free parent resource library. Threshold's Board of Directors had ordered, and its officers were actively and timely pursuing, a rapid conversion to scholarship and family tuition-based operations when, due to budget short falls and global regulation changes related to Autism within the Oregon Health Plan, unforeseen funding cuts were implemented six months ahead of schedule and retroactively in May of 1995 with two days notice. This sadly caused an unavoidable and immediate closure of all services and programs at our wonderful model site. So in less than a week we had to relocate 16 high-needs children to transitional settings, and move out of the 3,000 square foot Step-Up facility that it had taken us three years to design, develop and remodel. Needless to say this was very difficult and our organizational development was set back all the way to a second start-up phase. We picked up that challenge again. "All that is not given is lost" (The film City of Joy) But we were not deterred. Within a month THRESHOLD was operating a family-centered parent cooperative called "Our Open Door School" at a donated residential site, serving families with a model program, peer support group and professional training program. Over the last five years this new coop program has blossomed as a truly effective and affordable model that provides a new practical intervention strategy for future programs. And, while we cannot serve as many children, our children's and families' outcomes are just as remarkable, if not more remarkable than those we saw at our former Step-Up program. This is because the more we understand Autism and apply structured teaching in a truly family centered model, the greater the natural teaching connection we can all make with our children. In October of 1997 THRESHOLD reopened enrollment to Step-Up for students 2 to 7 years old as year-round early childhood educational program that works in concert with Our Open Door cooperative program for students 3 to 10. In January of 1998 we then opened our new Window of Opportunity Program "Creating Careers out of Entry Level Jobs.™" The implementation of this program was part of our focus on functional pre-vocational and transitional vocational support for students 10-21 years old. These programs have continued to operate at a near zero funding by functioning as family cooperatives. All along this long and tough road THRESHOLD's board, officers and volunteer staff has strived to make our organization a productive and contributing member of the larger Autism community. Upon STEP-UP's closure we funded advanced TEACCH assessment training sessions for the very providers in our region that took over our funding. Since then we have consistently volunteered reduced and no-cost training and consulting time to public school and adult service providers. Beginning in 1995 we have consulted to and directly assisting the Autism Society of Oregon (ASO) in order to reorganize itself into a strong statewide organization that can provide information, referral, and peer support groups to families, in line with our expanded mission statement. Our director, Sharone Lee, also assisted the ASO in designing and publishing a state-wide newsletter called the net and a local news page the tortoise to put parents in contact with all available providers in the state as well as current information on intervention options. Our latest joint project with The ASO has been to distribute a new Public Early Screening and Detection Poster and ASO Info Packet. Dr. Stephen Edelson of the Center for the Study of Autism and Sharone Lee, THRESHOLD’S executive director, worked with well-established research materials and in consultation with other professionals and parent advisory committees to develop and design this public information poster to improve early screening and detection in our state. This poster and ASO information packet has been prepared for mailing by students with Autism in our Windows of Opportunity program. This mailing was the start of a public awareness campaign that builds towards National Autism Awareness Month in April 2000. We feel such organizational collaborations are central to building a strong and healthy Autism community in our state and our nation. Then in 2002 Sharone Lee was invited to become the editor of The Net Journal of the Autism Society of Oregon. In addition to all our new alternative provider education and school programs, since we opened in 1992, THRESHOLD has trained over 1000 family and professional providers to individuals with Autism and their families, and continues to expand the availability of our trainings from our own location and beyond to online. Our continual outreach training is specially designed to quickly increase both client and staff skills in preparation for individuals with Autism to live and work in the community. With both funding and available employee applicants in the Autism service community dwindling, provider empowerment and Autism skills trainings are in great need and great demand now. We hope to meet that demand through our new on-line independent study site. These web pages are our new THRESHOLD organizational web site. It was redesigned and then relaunched (one more time) on December 4, 2003. Our all new A.D.A.P.T. Autism Education Training Services and Support Series launched in Autism of that year. Over the next two years our new online services and products will be expanding. Just watch us keeping building, going and growing. |
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