Meet the Founders and the Team: Suhani Anand and Sayli Limaye
Care For a Friend project is an opportunity for autistic individuals to socialize in the community, learn skills, have play dates with neurotypical buddies and make friends in life. Suhani Anand and Sayli Limaye started and created Care For A Friend project .
Suhani Anand Co-Founder
Care For A Friend Program
Sayli Limaye Co-Founder
Children with Autism have communication barriers which makes it difficult to make friends. Care for a friend is a humble initiative to break the barriers and develop open communication with them. This project is run by volunteers.
It is a program in which a volunteers work with children with Autism by participating in various activities such as baking, bowling, art classes, farming, theater, etc. We have sessions once or twice in a month and special needs children interact with the volunteers over different activities.
Care For A Friend is an opportunity for individuals with Autism to socialize in the community, learn skills, have play
Neuro Diverse Gardeners - Horticulture program
Horticulture Therapy for AUTISM- Social Skills Program
Elisabeth Black – an exciting researcher and teaching assistant in Behavioral Neuroscience. She is a high school teacher of students with special needs, and she teaches several classes with organizations. She is currently studying how horticultural therapy can positively impact individuals – particularly her autistic students- using biomarkers and other quantitative methods. Now, a Ph.D. student in Behavioral Systems Neuroscience at Rutgers University, the main focus of Elisabeth’s research is to gather empirical evidence supporting the use of Horticultural Therapy to help people
Neuro Diverse Gardeners - Horticulture program
Horticulture Therapy for AUTISM- Social Skills Program
The Akhil Autism Foundation pioneered the social skills program “Care for a Friend” and successfully launched in the the state of NJ. Together, the Hortihope and the AAF are partnering to bring the horticulture training program under the NeuroDiverse Gardeners initiative that the Care for a Friend program promotes. This is an inclusive opportunity to interact with the neurotypical community and begin the steps towards a new form of therapy embracing nature and the wealth of NJ, the Garden State
Horticultural Therapy is the use of plants to help people. It may be used to help someone physically recover from and illness or accident, help a person with a disability develop social or vocational skills or offer a chance for a person to be included and socialize. Interaction with plants has been shown to provide many benefits for people including increase in feelings of well-being, stress reduction, blood pressure reduction and release of muscle tension. Developing and promoting Horticultural Vocational Skills. Training is the primary focus of the efforts of the Horticultural Training Program. The driving goal is to give autistic people skills to help them gain employment in the green industry. We achieve this through educational videos, webinars and grants. The goal of the Horticultural Training Program through AAF is to give all autistic students in New Jersey the opportunity to train for jobs in the Green Industry.