Rich Center for Autism offers support to families

A new state scholarship helps autistic children.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The strength of the Rich Center for Autism is that it serves the autistic child in the context of the entire family, according to a parent whose child has been enrolled at the center.
"It's hard to find people who understand our children," said Lenore Collupy of Mercer, whose son, Quinn, 12, has attended the center's summer program.
"His growth has been phenomenal," she said. "If he would not have been able to attend, he would have shown immediate regression" over the summer, she said. "Our children need structure all year long," and any gap over the summer causes a decline in their skills, she explained.
"The best part is: The center really does not only care about the child's education; they care about supporting the families," including parents and siblings, said Collupy, who is also the center's programs coordinator. "It's way beyond just the child, and that, to me, is what makes it successful," she added.
Autism is a neurological disorder that interferes with normal development, including the ability to communicate, understand language and interact with others.
Services
The center's operating budget this year is about $800,000, and it has 18 full-time and seven part-time staff members. Its Summer of Growth program, which has served children ranging in age from 21/2 to 14, had 40 participants this summer. About 15 educators attend the center's summer coursework. Between 15 to 20 parents attend the center's free support group meetings.
There will be 29 children in this year's regular school-year program, which was previously limited to preschool children.
This year, for the first time, the regular school year program will include eight school-age children, thanks to the Ohio Autism Scholarship, which provides a $15,000 per-child-per-year grant.
However, Phyllis Ricchiuti, president of the center's board, said the actual cost of serving each child year-round is about $32,000 because pupils get intense individual attention in the program, which has one teacher for every two pupils.
Besides the state scholarship, the center is funded by a combination of private donations, summer program tuition, and fees charged to educators for workshops. The Hine Foundation gives the center $40,000 to $50,000 a year. Local school districts pay for summer services for some children enrolled at the center.
Help from YSU
Youngstown State University provides more than $250,000 a year in in-kind services to the center by providing the center with the entire first floor of Fedor Hall rent-free and by paying all utilities, except telephone service. Besides housing the center, the university also gives it public relations and grant application-writing assistance.
The center has an annual fund-raising golf tournament, which was organized by friends of Anthony and Paula Rich's, who died in the Sept. 8, 1994, crash of USAir Flight 427 and for whom the center is named.
This year, the 10th annual golf tournament will be at noon Sept. 13 at Pine Lake and Yankee Run golf courses in Trumbull County. The fee is $125 per person and includes lunch and dinner. Anyone interested may call the Rich Center during business hours at (330) 941-1927. When the center was founded in 1995, "What was lacking was not the desire to help these children, it was just that there were no services here for them because they were just starting to understand autism," said Phyllis Ricchiuti, Anthony Rich's mother. "Professionals needed to be trained because these children were hitting the classrooms and the teachers didn't know what to do with them," she added.
"The association with YSU gave them the pull of the teachers and the student teachers and it also gave a faculty for the center. You not only were able to help the parents with the children, but they were also able to train teachers, and you had the teachers right here," said Dr. Robert Ricchiuti, Anthony's father.