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< Back Capital Campaign Building tomorrow together, your donation is our foundation. Autism Community Network officially moved to 535 Bandera on July 24, 2023. We are extremely grateful to the initial capital campaign partners for believing in our mission and partnering with ACN to lead the San Antonio and South Texas in strength-based, neurodiversity affirming care for the youngest members of our community. Our capital campaign remains ongoing, and we extend an invitation to future partners to become an integral part of our transformative capital campaign. This is not a simple call for funding, rather an opportunity to be a change agent in the care of children showing developmental delay or have a diagnosis of autism. Partnering with ACN to help manifest our vision of becoming a nationally recognized center of excellence for the assessment and treatment of children with autism will: Decrease critical wait times for the most vulnerable facet of our population Create a truly sensory friendly, welcoming environment for all visitors Provide space for play areas and community gatherings to include: an outdoor playground and sensory garden, indoor/outdoor space for Camp AUsome!, a state of the art, multipurpose community center adjacent to the main building, and an expansive parking lot for outdoor food/school drives and holiday events Expand upon current services with additional therapy rooms, kitchens to support ACN's new Feeding Empowerment Program, and larger gyms for therapy and group activities Partnering with ACN in this way will allow children on the spectrum to be absolute contributors to our society. Our children will push the envelope of what humanity is capable of with a team of professional and familial caregivers walking beside them. Let's get started

Who we are. At Autism Community Network, we are passionate about empowering families and caregivers to be the principal advocates, caregivers, and champions in their children’s lives. Our mission is to provide support, education and resources to those affected by autism. We strive to make a difference in the lives of autistic individuals and their families by providing educational resources, support groups, and community events. Our goal is to ensure that those affected by autism get the support and resources they need to lead a successful life. Our organization. Autism Community Network (ACN) was established as a 501(c)(3) in 2008 by a consortium of health care funders concerned about the lack of child development services available to children suspected of having autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This initiative was led by Palmer Moe, former executive manager of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation. ACN addresses the diagnostic, therapeutic, educational, and recreational needs of families impacted by autism living in South Texas. Our mission. Our mission is to maximize the potential of children with autism by providing early diagnosis for those with limited access and educating and empowering the community to support them. Elephant-sized values. You may have noticed our larger-than-life mascot. As an autism nonprofit dedicated to forming relationships and nurturing the wellness of the autism ecosystem, we thought of nothing more fitting than the elephant. Elephants live in tightly bonded herds, also known as “packs” or “parades.” The herd, led by the oldest and largest matriarch, can consist of up to 100 individual elephants. Known for their high intellect and ability to store memories, elephants have been observed to display signs of emotions such as playfulness, joy, anger, and grief. These beautiful giants communicate through subsonic rumbles, which travel through the earth under their feet more quickly than through the air above them. Interestingly, elephants receive the rumbling messages through the skin on their feet and trunks, indicating highly attuned sensory systems. When a baby calf is born, the entire herd helps to raise and protect their young. ACN believes our commitment to holistic community support mirrors this natural phenomenon, and we are happy to take cues from our mammalian friends! Read More Team Our team. Tiffany Fresher Chief Executive Officer Read More Adrienne Gaither, OTR, CSIPT, C/NDT Chief Programs Officer & Occupational Therapist Read More Noelia Cheatham Billing Specialist Read More Lisa Martinez-Jimenez Board Certified Behavior Analyst Read More Nicolle Reyna, MS CCC-SLP Speech Language Pathologist Read More Carrie Alvarado, PhD, OTR Chief Operating Officer Read More Cortney John, MA Chief Development & Outreach Officer Read More Gabriel Gonzalez, OTD, OTR/L Bilingual Occupational Therapist Read More Jarrod Purkeypile, MA CCC-SLP Speech Language Pathologist Read More Angela Sanchez-Concha Caregiver Coordinator Read More Alma Patricia del Angel, MD Chief Medical Officer & Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician Read More Vanessa Amaya Referral Coordinator Read More Cathy Kersey Accounting Manager Read More Arjai Ramos Front Desk Coordinator Read More Anna Paola Smith, LCSW Licensed Clinical Social Worker Read More Reach out. Each family's journey with autism is AUsomely unique. Let our staff walk beside you on your pathway. Start Now Our board of directors. OFFICERS Joshua Behnke - President Behnke Legal Consulting, PLLC Denise Garcia - Vice President Texas Partners Bank Matthew Occhipinti - Treasurer Northwestern Mutual Greg Hanson, DO, FAAP - Secretary Southwest Children's Cente r MEMBERS Wendy Faldet HEB Beth Jones Assistant Superintendent - SAISD Manny Nsien President and CEO of Superior Living Foundation Ursula Pari Former KSAT 12 News Anchor & CEO of San Antonio Polo Club Michael Thompson Merrill Lynch Kristen Williams, PhD Executive Director of Disability Services - SAISD, Retired Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice Advisory Committee. We're excited to introduce our Neurodiversity-Affirming Practice Advisory Committee. This committee, including neurodiverse individuals of all stripes, serves to provide our board and our staff with ongoing guidance and support from a position of lived experience to assure our consistent alignment with strengths-based and neurodiversity-affirming practice.

< Back Anna Paola Smith, LCSW Licensed Clinical Social Worker Anna Paola Smith attended The University of Texas at Austin where she received her BA in Psychology and her Masters degree in Social Work. She has had the opportunity to work with children and families in the school, hospital, and clinical settings. Anna Paola's interests lie in family system and how the development of one child may impact the entire family unit. After living in Austin for 6 years, she relocated to San Antonio with her husband, Daniel. During her free time she enjoys creating recipes for her Paleo-based Instagram account, exploring the culinary scene in San Antonio with her family and friends, and living an active, healthy lifestyle. anna.paola@acn-sa.org (210) 435-1000 ext. 2010

< Back Arjai Ramos Front Desk Coordinator Robert Ramos, Front Desk Coordinator, brings 25 years of medical experience to Autism Community Network in the following areas: mental health, children with disabilities, and oncology. He is the parent to four dogs and one cat. He loves spending time with his family and friends. When not working, he can be found riding through the hill country checking out local Texas wineries. robert.ramos@acn-sa.org (210) 435-1000 ext. 5000

< Back Noelia Cheatham Billing Specialist Noelia Cheatham joins our team as a Billing Specialist with twenty three years of work experience with an Early Childhood Intervention Program (ECI). Her work background also includes working as a Special Education Teacher’s aide, interpreter and Peer Counselor for the Women Infants and Children Program (WIC). At WIC she taught health related classes in English and Spanish. Noelia is very involved with an orphanage in Mexico, Casa Hogar. She organizes drives for school supplies, school uniforms, and bi-yearly summer festivals for the children. She has two grown children and her hobbies are crafting, gardening and baking. Noelia is excited about new opportunities with ACN and helping to serve the community. noelia.cheatham@acn-sa.org (210) 435-1000 ext. 5008

< Back Cortney John, MA Chief Development & Outreach Officer Cortney John holds a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Mass Media from Angelo State University and a BA in Communication with a concentration in Public Relations from The University of Texas at San Antonio. Cortney has spent the last ten years as a professional fundraiser in the Texas Hill Country and has worked throughout her professional career in crisis communication planning, marketing campaign management, and philanthropic fundraising. Cortney has served on multiple committees and councils in various roles from social outreach to communications chair. Understanding that the basis of all successful communication lies in relationship building is important to Cortney. A Rio Grande Valley native, Cortney now calls San Antonio home and spends much of her time exploring antique stores, estate sales, and finding new recipes to try. As a sibling to a neurodivergent adult, Autism Community Network’s mission lands close to home for Cortney and fuels her fire to be an ethical storyteller for ACN’s work each day. cortney@acn-sa.org 210-435-1000

< Back Jarrod Purkeypile, MA CCC-SLP Speech Language Pathologist Jarrod Purkeypile began his speech pathology journey after earning two unrelated undergraduate degrees from Southwestern Adventist University and volunteering for two years in South America. In 2014, he completed his master's degree from the University of Kansas and moved to Oklahoma City to join their only bilingual pediatric therapy clinic. After the birth of his first son, Jarrod and his family moved to San Antonio, where he worked for 8 years in the home health industry, before finding ACN in 2024. Jarrod has experience working in schools, clinics, homes, daycares, summer camps, children's gyms, and from home via telehealth. His talents include silly voices, juggling, imaginative play, cartwheels, storytelling, and more. Outside of work, Jarrod keeps himself busy with his 3 lively children and his beautiful wife, Eileen. His home is always full of soccer balls, Lego robotics, tabletop artwork, dark chocolate, and blissful noise. He enjoys dates at the Tobin, watching cartoon movies, playing sports, and the occasional free moment. jarrod.purkeypile@acn-sa.org 210-435-1000

< Back Alma Patricia del Angel, MD Chief Medical Officer & Developmental Behavioral Pediatrician Dr. A Patricia Del Angel graduated from medical school at the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas. She did her pediatric residency training at Lincoln Hospital and Mental Health Center/New York Medical College, where she also served as chief resident. In addition, she completed a fellowship in child development-behavioral pediatrics at King Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, and received her specialist certification in infant mental health from the Early Childhood Center at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles. Dr. Del Angel has most recently served as a pediatrician at People’s Clinic in Austin and as a developmental-behavioral specialist in the pediatric residency program at UTMB Austin. Previously, Dr. Del Angel was the clinical director of the Southwest Area Children’s Hub in Los Angeles for thirteen years. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Del Angel is the proud aunt to two neurodivergent children. ap.delangel@acn-sa.org (210) 435-1000

< Back Carrie Alvarado, PhD, OTR Chief Operating Officer Dr. Carrie Alvarado serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Autism Community Network (ACN). Carrie has a PhD in Infant and Early Childhood Development with an emphasis on Infant Mental Health and Developmental Disorders. Dr. Alvarado is the creator and director of the Earliest Connections Clinic, our diagnostic program geared toward early identification and therapeutic intervention for high-risk infants and toddlers. Additionally, Carrie leads the DIRFloortime and PACT therapy/teletherapy programs- intensive intervention programs supporting families impacted by autism through dyadic coaching using both in-vivo and reflective video feedback modalities. Dr. Alvarado's primary research interests are in Sensoriaffective Integration and attachment, clinical use of reflective video feedback, and in optimizing parent-mediated interventions via the modality of telepractice. She completed her dissertation on establishing preliminary validity of a new clinical assessment and coaching tool, the Sensoriaffective Interactional Attunement Scale (SAIAS), geared toward promoting enhanced use of sensoriaffective signaling between caregivers and their children. Carrie is also currently engaged in development of another scale, the Emotional Intelligence and Praxis in Play Scale (EIPPS), focused on evaluating the presence, sophistication, flexibility and organization of themes of emotional intelligence in child-led, symbolic, dyadic play. Dr. Alvarado was the first in the United States to become a Pediatric Autism Communication Therapy (PACT) Accredited Practitioner and she serves as an Associate with PACT UK. Carrie is a DIR®Floortime™ Certified Expert Clinician, and she serves as an Assistant Faculty for the Profectum™ foundation. Dr. Alvarado has also served as the lead for the Clinical Advisory Committee for STAR Institute, in Colorado. She is Core Faculty for the Fielding Graduate School of Psychology and Adjunct Faculty for the UT Health OTD Program. Dr. Alvarado is passionate about building bridges where none yet exist, about innovating and expanding the boundaries of our knowledge, and about meeting families and fellow clinicians where they are and empowering them to find the gifts they all have to give. Carrie is the proud mother of three young women and wife to her compassionate husband for 24 years. She enjoys time at the lake, snuggling with her many beloved pets, and listening to Huberman Lab podcast on repeat. Carrie is also a proud niece, cousin and first cousin once removed of beautifully inspiring, neurodiverse humans who made and make the world a better place to be a part of. carrie@acn-sa.org (210) 435-1000

< Back Legacy Giving Secure the future; leave a lasting legacy through giving. Have you ever imagined the impact you could have on the world, even beyond your lifetime? Legacy giving is a powerful way to leave behind a lasting imprint, ensuring that the causes you hold dear continue to thrive for generations to come. What is Legacy Giving? Legacy giving, also known as planned giving, is a heartfelt commitment to support a cause that resonates with you well into the future. By including Autism Community Network in your estate plans, you're building a bridge between your values and the transformative work we do. Why Choose Legacy Giving? Impactful Transformation: Your legacy gift will contribute to sustained change in areas that matter most to you. Perpetuating Your Values: It's an opportunity to uphold your beliefs and create a better world aligned with your vision. Preserving Your Memory: Your generosity will be remembered, and your legacy will inspire others to follow in your footsteps. Financial Benefits: Some legacy gifts offer tax advantages that can benefit your estate and loved ones. How Can You Get Involved? Leaving a legacy is easier than you might think. You can choose from various options, such as bequests, charitable trusts, life insurance policies, and more. It's a personal decision that reflects your values and goals. If you're ready to shape the future through legacy giving, please fill out our legacy giving interest form, and we will set you up with one of our legacy giving partners to help you on your way. Your legacy is a testament to the change you wish to see in the world, and we're honored to be a part of that journey. Let's get started