About me
Donna McGowan is a Metro NYC parent. She is a long-term certified Project Management Professional with a background in Sociology and a Master of Business Administration. Due to a recent layoff and as a parent of a young child on the autism spectrum disorder, Donna discovered in her child's student population - a critical gap. Many autistic students do not have options for afterschool programming. Donna McGowan's son was a "pandemic toddler" and while employed in a remote setting, did not notice the limited afterschool programming in her local area that would accommodate for autism. Donna started to research more of her struggle during her job search. She discovered many special needs parents in the job market, including herself could be underemployed or unemployed in New York. That means, by documented CDC autism rates 1 in 31 families could be economically challenged, due to the lack of inclusive afterschool programming's limited capacity or a lack of reasonable accommodations. The lack of afterschool programming especially for autism students, ages 3 - 7 is a systemic issue nationwide for parents and their children.
Donna will share her personal journey and the impact of her child's social development in an afterschool program with general education students. Donna provides a unique perspective because she has also worked inside NYC Public Schools. In prior years, Donna was a youth counselor, teacher and a paraprofessional, therefore she has lived school support experience and could share actionable strategies on how to reduce staff/ parent/ caregiver anxiety and boost confidence for all.
We ultimately want to help all students and providing social repetition in inclusive afterschool programming during primary school years could help autistic students do better socially in future grade levels to adulthood. In fact, afterschool programming is the extraordinary component that could help the special needs household, school staff, students and their support professionals outside the classroom.
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