InKids moves into new Atascocita facility

Including Kids, a nonprofit serving children and young adults with autism, officially moved into its new facility the last week of July.

InKids aims to help children with autism develop skills to become included members of their communities, and its programs have helped more than 600 families in the 15 years the agency has served the greater Houston area.

"Autism affects one in 68, so the need is enormous," said Jennifer Dantzler, executive director of InKids.

InKids serves children ages 2 years old up to young adulthood and has several different campuses.

The organization began a push to expand its reach about five years ago, which inspired the push to build a new facility. The nonprofit launched its campaign for the $4 million project about three years ago.

Thanks to the support of Lake Houston area businesses like Insperity, which served as one of the effort's major donors, the dream of building a new campus became a reality. A grand opening celebration is being scheduled for late September or early October.

The 18,000-square-foot facility sits on nearly two acres at 18401 Timber Forest Drive in Atascocita.

"We took many months to design the facility so that it really was geared towards helping address the needs of children and young adults with autism," Dantzler said during Kingwood BizCom on Aug. 3 at Kingwood Park High School.

The facility features special classrooms for intensive one-on-one teaching, as well as larger areas for group learning spaces.

Among its environments are a mock bedroom, living room and kitchen to acclimate older children and young adults to performing daily household tasks. Kids work on developing sensory and motor skills through activities in the motor lab.

"We have a game center because, again, part of our goal is inclusion, so they're not going to be successfully included if they don't know how to play X-box, Wii and PS4," Dantzler said.

Also included in the campus' design are items regularly encountered in public schools and other everyday settings, like lockers, as well as an array of different kinds of bathroom faucets and hand drying devices.

"Some of us still struggle with 'Is it a dispenser, or a pull, or a push, or a dance around or stand on your head?' We might want to hit our head on the wall when we're frustrated, but some of our guys might actually do that. So, we work on how to help them get used to that," Dantzler said.

The campus offers physical activity areas, including a playground and sports field.

One of the organization's goals is familiarizing kids with routine medical and hygiene activities.

"For many of you who don't have a child with autism, you don't realize the challenges that these families incur every single day," Dantzler said. "We've had parents who have had to cut their hair while their child was sleeping at night because they were terrified. Just to go for a dental treatment, they have to get sedated."

InKids has created mock rooms to help kids with autism become comfortable getting haircuts, dental exams and medical treatments.

"Our big goal this year is working with the medical professionals in our community to try to help educate," Dantzler said.

Including Kids has even been working with first responders to provide a better understanding of autism.

"So, we will come for free and train anyone who's willing to listen on the aspects of autism, especially in the medical world right now," Dantzler said.

Moving forward, another focus will be partnering with businesses to help young adults with autism participate as contributing members of their communities.

Including Kids intends to continue expanding the scope and reach of its services.

"We have families who drive from all over the Houston area, so our goal is to continue to create satellite sites and add young adult services and basically do whatever we need to do for the community," Dantzler said.

For more information about Including Kids, visit www.includingkids.org.