|
LARC is pleased to welcome Nerissa Casanova to the agency as Coordinator of the Autism Resource Center. Nerissa will pick up where Kathy Riberdy left off in June 2021 to return to Project SEARCH. As a consultant, Kathy achieved important groundwork to establish the new Autism Resource Center. Now, Nerissa will begin creating and developing programming.
“I am thrilled to be part of the LARC family, and the Autism Resource Center,” Nerissa shared. “This is such an exciting opportunity and I’m ready to get to work.” |
LARC has been awarded a grant from Thomaston Savings Bank Foundation to create a sensory garden behind the agency’s offices at 314 Main St., Torrington.
“The sensory garden will be an important part of LARC’s new Autism Resource Center as a place for programming, as well as respite for program participants, family members, staff, and guests,” according to a statement. |
LARC has been awarded funding of $150,000.00 from the Robert Rosenheim Foundation for the creation and development of an autism resource center in Torrington. The funds will be paid out over three phases in a three-year period. “We are very happy to support the work that the resource center will provide to Litchfield County youth and their families,” noted Michael Samartino, board member of the Robert Rosenheim Foundation.
“LARC is deeply gratified for the support from the Robert Rosenheim Foundation,” said Michael Menard, LARC executive director. “This certainly is one of the most important projects for the city of Torrington and surrounding towns. We are honored to have the support of the foundation.” (click above link for full article) |
Matthew Carbone is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who has worked with special education programs throughout North America. A member of LARC’s Board of Directors, Matt is pursuing a Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis. He has extensive experience working in the field of Autism and will bring a wealth of knowledge to his role as a member of the advisory committee. Rebeka Antonelli is the parent of a teenaged son with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has run her own business, Clean as a Whistle, for ten years, and currently works as an Educator for the World Awareness Children's Museum, implementing outreach and in-house programs focused on art and culture. Rebeka volunteered for many years in her children's elementary, middle and high school PTAs as secretary, committee head, and member. She was a Girl Scout troop leader and is part founder and executive director for KKC Cares, a non profit that assists individuals and families through traumatic and abusive circumstances.
Beth Lambert is a board certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Behavior Analyst (CT and NY) who works with students 3 to 16 years of age at the CREC River Street Autism Program. She received her Master of Science degree from Central Connecticut State University and completed her Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis at the University of Saint Joseph. Beth taught middle school language arts and math for ten years before taking a break from her career to raise her sons, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. Beth is a past President of Connecticut Families for Effective Treatment (CT FEAT).
Davyne Verstandig was a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Connecticut. (retired June 2020 after 25 years.) Her books include two books of poetry, Pieces of the Whole and Provisions and her work appears in Sex and Sexuality in a Feminist World, Songs of the Marrow Bone, Where Beach Meets Ocean, This One Has No Name, The Monday Poets, and the forth coming anthology with an introduction by Margaret Gibson, CT Poet Laureate, Waking Up to the Earth, Connecticut Poets in a Time of Global Climate Crisis. She has also performed improvisational work “composing on the tongue” painting and poetry at The Knitting Factory and Housing Works Café in New York City and given readings throughout New England. She gives writing workshops at Wisdom House Retreat Center in Litchfield and at Camp Washington Episcopal Retreat Center in Morris. She is Poet Laureate Emerita of Washington and is a Justice of the Peace.
|