Autism School Expands Into New Space

With a growing subset of students in need of special services, the Fresh Start School at the FOCUS Center for Autism, in Canton, was feeling squeezed.

“We had to turn down some kids,” said Donna Swanson, who founded the nonprofit with her husband, Fred Evans, in 2000.

That’s less of an issue today, as the Fresh Start School - which provides a full day of school for children who have been pulled from their local schools - has found a nearby space that allows them to say yes to more who might need that service.

“Now that we have the two spaces, we can hold up to 20 kids,” Swanson said.

Maeghen Harris, the school’s director of educational services, said this can be seen as the start of something big for the nonprofit.

“This space is really a launchpad,” Harris said. “It’s a continuation of our program. This made sense for our older students, who are bigger and will be going out into the community and getting job experiences.”

The new space neighbors several businesses that can be suitors to provide those real world job experiences, Harris said. That’s another reason why expanding the footprint can prove beneficial.

“This can now let us dive into life skills, vocational skills, secondary education, and independent living,” Harris said.

They have the new space for two years, so they see it as a temporary fix while they work on securing a long term solution for more space.

But for now, the location is a source of pride for the students who spend their days there. They talked about that at a town hall meeting they hosted once they started working in the new space.

“The pride of having this, I can’t even begin to describe it,” Swanson said. “We want them to feel empowered and have a voice."

“This building allows the students to see themselves in a different light,” Harris said. “It’s helping them to raise the bar for themselves.”

Harris said by using the new space for the older kids, they can ask them for higher expectations.

“They have pride in themselves,” Harris said. “They see themselves at a higher level. We expect higher maturity over here."

“I see the pride... when you come in here... we have these kids that weren’t making it anywhere, but they are making it here,” Swanson said.

The nonprofit has also added a new van, which lets it take more students out on trips into the community.

“We go out to visit different businesses and places of employment to see what it’s like,” Harris said.

As the nonprofit approaches its 20th anniversary in 2020, they said they are continuing to adapt to what’s new. That includes offering yoga once a week and more activities, like visiting the Storyteller’s Cottage in Simsbury.

The new space, Swanson said, sure beats having well over a dozen kids, plus staff members, in the original location - which was the case over the summer.

“It wasn’t until they came over in the new space... they said they could breathe,” Swanson said.

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