FATE as an organization had its roots in another organization called POAC (Parents of Autistic Children - http://www.poac.net). In the late 1990s, a small group of parents of children with autism in Ocean County, New Jersey formed this small non-profit organization with the intent of improving educational programs for children with autism. They began to research alternative methods of teaching children with autism, including other strategies, interventions, and treatments which might help their children better succeed.
In 2001, POAC hosted a two-day conference at Georgian Court University (Lakewood, NJ) that featured the world’s most prominent speakers in the field of autism intervention. At that conference, Dr. Vincent J. Carbone, a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst, presented a model of applied behavior analysis that incorporated B.F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior and natural environment teaching into the program. Dr. Carbone explained and illustrated through extensive use of video, how Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior coupled with effective teaching procedures provided a means that could be used to help every child learn at a rate commensurate with their ability. An overwhelming majority of the teachers who participated in this conference said that their greatest need was for more targeted training in the application of Skinner’s analysis of Verbal Behavior. POAC responded to this need and began to work toward providing more training for teachers.
The energized group, spearheaded by co-founders Tom Caffrey, Dawn Marzarella, and Bob & Donna Lanzieri scheduled teacher training workshops throughout the 2001-2002 school year, so that teachers could receive training in this scientifically-based program which had already been proven effective for teaching children with autism. This success led the group to launch a further teacher training initiative called Project Pipeline. The mission of Project Pipeline was to provide funding for teachers and school personnel to attend targeted training in Applied Behavioral Analysis through Board Certification. Grants from Project Pipeline enabled professionals to participate in this rigorous and expensive program, which required more than 100 hours of training, at a cost of more than $3,500 per teacher.
POAC requested only that the teachers and personnel who received Project Pipeline grants in turn share this knowledge by conducting evening training for their colleagues and parents throughout the state of New Jersey. Newly trained special education professionals throughout the state responded enthusiastically, and collaborated with each other through an informal organization called the Verbal Behavior Network. These teachers in the Verbal Behavior Network developed a eight-part training series and presented more than 120 free trainings throughout the 2002-2003 school year. This program continued to expand into new areas for the next few years and thousands of teachers and parents benefited from Project Pipeline.
While special education teachers worked to train their colleagues in other districts and parents, POAC formed a strategic partnership with Brick Township School District, and assisted them in establishing pilot classrooms. This Brick/POAC pilot program gained national attention, and in 2003, more than 250 people from around the world visited the pilot classrooms in Brick and the surrounding areas, which used the teaching methods which they had learned through Project Pipeline. Parents and teachers in other parts of the country who had heard of the program began to form their own POAC groups, in the hope of replicating this success. They formed their own groups in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and overseas in Ireland.
Between 1999 and 2005, every penny raised by the organization went to fund teacher training, and all work for POAC and Project Pipeline was done on a volunteer basis. It is a testament to the dedication of this core group of parents that through their tireless efforts, POAC and Project Pipeline were able to fund training for hundreds of teachers in the special education field, working directly with children with autism.
By 2005, the demand for Project Pipeline grants had exceeded POAC’s fundraising efforts, and the teacher training program was put on hold indefinitely. Since the need for teacher training remained as urgent as ever, the Foundation for Autism Training and Education (FATE) was formed in May 2007 by professionals in the field of special education, to resurrect Project Pipeline. FATE is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives, education, and future successes of children with autism.
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