Written by: Alex Gary
Original article: Beloit Daily News
BELOIT — The Wisconsin Early Autism Project (WEAP) has opened its first location in Beloit, giving families with autistic children a second option in the city.
“We launched the new Beloit Learning Center to meet significant demand for ABA autism services in Rock County,” WEAP’s Regional Clinical Director Christine Laurent said in a news release. “We are excited to have the opportunity to partner with new families throughout greater Beloit to help find success for every child in our care.”
ABA therapy is Applied Behavior Analysis and is considered “best practice” by many organizations, including the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association, for improving social skills and communication.
Madison-based WEAP is in its 31st year of operation and now has learning centers in Altoona, Brookfield, Glendale, Green Bay, Greenfield, Madison, Milwaukee, Menomonie, Mount Pleasant, Oak Creek, Oshkosh, Reedsburg, Sheboygan, Stevens Point, Sun Prairie and West Bend. This is WEAP’s second center in Rock County. It has a center in Janesville at 211 N. Parker Drive.
The WEAP Beloit Learning Center opened last week at 905 Henry Ave., which originally was built in 2002 to be a Family Video Store. At one time, Family Video was the largest privately-owned movie rental business in the United States with more than 800 locations. Streaming video, though, killed the movie store. Family Video closed the Henry Avenue location in 2020 and by the end of 2021 had closed all of its locations nationwide.
While the need for movie rental stores has disappeared, the need for autism services only continues to grow. In 1995, according to rough estimates from the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center, about one in 500 children were likely to be diagnosed with autism. In 2022, when Caravel Autism Health opened at 2040 Sutler Ave. in Beloit, that had changed to one in 44 children, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control data. Last year, it was one in 31.
Although the WEAP center theoretically is competition, Caravel Vice President of Marketing and Communications Gordon Montgomery welcomed WEAP’s opening.
“Right now, our Beloit location has a two-year waiting list,” Montgomery said. Therapists there work with between 16 to 20 kids a week. “Every child is served on a one-to-one basis. We have room to grow even in our current Beloit location, but the challenge in certain areas is finding enough certified therapists.”
According to U.S. Census estimates, there are about 44,500 people living in the City of Beloit and Town of Beloit. Of those, more than 10,800 are aged 18 and under. Based on current data, that means it’s possible there are up to 350 Beloit area children diagnosed with autism.
Another 26,600 people live in Rockton, Roscoe and South Beloit in Illinois where there are no autism centers. Those families have to seek services in Beloit, or Machesney Park and Rockford in Illinois.
The WEAP center in Beloit currently has no waitlist and seeks to serve children ages 18 months to six years old. For more information or to enroll a child, call 608-662-9327 or visit https://wiautism.com/locations/beloit.
