View From The Hill
(4/23/09)

KAP-O

The Kelly Autism Program at Western Kentucky University now reaches beyond the Bowling Green campus.
In this week’s “View from the Hill”, Amy Bingham tells us about a new branch that’s just opened.

It’s called KAP-O…which stands for Kelly Autism Program Owensboro.

The program operates out of the Wendell Foster Campus for Developmental Disabilities and parents in that area couldn’t be more pleased.

 “If I was gonna describe him it would be happy, pleasant, fun.”

Tisha Zeimer can’t help beaming when talking about her ten year old son Corey.  Diagnosed with autism at age 2, Corey has made a lot of progress.

 “It is a beautiful picture to me as you can see he’s staying in the lines..it is just special..a few years ago he couldn’t have done this well.”

Now, Corey is  thriving even more…recently enrolled in the KAP-O program offered twice a week after school.
 “He’s hangin’ out with other kids and making friends.”

Ashley Benthall is the manager of KAP-O…
 “Kind of how they started out is how we are starting out.”

 ….The 2006 WKU graduate worked at the Kelly Autism program in Bowling Green and uses it as a model.

 “Even though we are starting out small right now, Bowling Green started out small several years ago and it’s grown into a great program now…we feel we’ll be the same as they will.”

Activities here mainly concentrate on improving the student’s social skills…something Corey’s mom says he struggles with most.

 “He wants to have a friend, he wants whatever he thinks that is, when it comes to actually having a friend or being a friend, he doesn’t know what to do.”

It’s a skill he can hone even more during KAP-O’s summer program, when the students get out into the community where they live.

 “It’s been a blessing now it’s here in Owensboro, we are on the ground floor and I feel we are gonna be friends with Kelly Autism until he’s an adult.”

This past Saturday, a portion of the proceeds from the Bowling Green Hot Rods game was donated to the Kelly Autism Program as part of Autism Awareness Month.

For more information on KAP  go to KAP–dot-WKU-dot-EDU.

With this week’s “View from the Hill”, I’m Amy Bingham.