Recreational Programs for Kids with Special Needs & Medi-Cal Update

All Autism Talk

In this episode we are joined by Coach Alex Sachs of the KEEN program in Phoenix. As a former professional soccer player and Olympic medal winner, Alex brings her great passion for sports to serving the special needs community. KEEN Phoenix (Kids Enjoying Exercise Now) is a national, nonprofit volunteer-led organization that provides one-to-one recreational opportunities for children and young adults with developmental and physical disabilities at no cost to their families and caregivers. KEEN's mission is to foster the self-esteem, confidence, skills and talents of its athletes through non-competitive activities, allowing young people facing even the most significant challenges to meet their individual goals. We have three sites that we service kids from Escalante Community Center, Gompers, and Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale. Alessandra “Coach Alex” Sachs played on the Brazilian Women’s National Soccer Team for 11 years and has a silver medal from the 2004 Olympic Games, a gold medal 2007 Pan American Games and was inducted in the Brazilian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. Today, she is the Program Director of KEEN Phoenix and Program Manager of Playworks Arizona. In this episode, Rob Haupt also offers an update on recent news about Medi-Cal and Medicaid coverage for autism services. All Autism Talk (allautismtalk.com) is sponsored by Autism Spectrum Therapies (autismtherapies.com) and Trellis Services (trellisservices.com) and Learn It Systems (learnitsystems.com)