Celebrate Easter
At St. Helena’s
BRONX TIMES R 4 EPORTER, APRIL 2-8, 2021
Autism specialists
win grant to support
interventions for children
Dr. Maria Valicenti-Mcdermott
Courtesy of Montefi ore
BY JASON COHEN
As one in 54 children are diagnosed
with autism fi nding funding
and ways to treat them is essential.
Recently Developmental Behavioral
Pediatrician, Dr. Maria Valicenti
Mcdermott, and her team at
The Rose F. Kennedy Children’s
Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center
at Montefi ore, were awarded
$150,000 from the Mother Cabrini
Health Foundation to support their
work providing advanced therapies
to preschool and school-aged children
with autism.
The funding will:
Support programs/interventions
that enhance children’s ability
to function in social situations,
and improve their social communication.
Support short term applied behavior
analysis, an intervention
provided to parents and children
targeting behavioral challenges.
Support a parent training and
support group that helps parents
cope with their child’s disability
and provides a supportive environment,
offering parent-to-parent support
and a safe space to discuss challenges
and victories parents face in
having a child diagnosed with autism
spectrum disorder.
Enable the creation of a new feeding
program that helps children
feel more comfortable with different
foods, through play.
“We’re lucky we got this grant,”
Valicenti-Mcdermott said to the
Bronx Times.
The doctor explained that the
study and recognition of autism has
come a long way over the years. In
the past it was much harder to identify
people with autism, but today
due to research, is easier.
“I think people are talking more
about autism,” she commented.
Valicenti-Mcdermott said sometimes
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it is hard for children with
autism to access services they need.
Through grants like this the hope
is to help them socially and allow
them to grow as individuals, she
said.
In the autism fi eld for 15 years,
Valicenti-Mcdermott fi nds it rewarding
to work with children and
also help their families. She noted
that because of the large Latino
population in the Bronx, many of
the families that come to she and
her team do not speak English. Fortunately
she is an a native of Argentina
and can speak Spanish.
She stressed that every child
with autism has different needs and
symptoms.
“There’s no one size fi ts all treatment,”
Valicenti-Mcdermott said.
April 2: Good Friday
8:30 am Tenebrae
3:00 pm Traditional Good Friday Liturgy (live-streamed)
6:00 pm Divine Mercy Novena
7:00 pm Seven Last Words of Christ in English and Spanish
8:00 pm Solemn Good Friday Liturgy
(English and Spanish both live-streamed)
April 3: Holy Saturday
8:30 am Tenebrae
4:00 pm Confessions
6:30 pm Divine Mercy Novena
7:30 pm Easter Vigil in Spanish (live-streamed)
8:30 pm Easter Vigil in English (live-streamed)
English Masses 8:00 am, 10:00 am (live-streamed), 5:00 pm
Spanish Mass 12:00 pm (live-streamed)
French Mass 6:30 pm
1:30 pm Movie “Unplanned” in gym followed by Divine Mercy Novena
Easter Week: April 5-9
Masses: 8:30 am (L-S) & 12:15 pm (Followed by Divine Mercy Novena)
April 10: Day Before Divine Mercy Sunday
Masses: 8:30 am (L-S) & 12:15 pm (Followed by Divine Mercy Novena)
5:30 pm Divine Mercy Sunday Vigil Mass
April 11: DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
English Masses 8:00 am, 10:00 am (live-streamed), 5:00 pm
Spanish Mass 12:00 pm (live-streamed)
French Mass 6:30 pm
4:00 pm Divine Mercy Chaplet, Confession & Veneration of Image
(Watch live-stream at www.facebook.com/St.HelenaBronx)
1315 Olmstead Avenue, Bronx, 10462
(718) 892-3232
/St.HelenaBronx)