In October 2009, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia opened the doors to the Kinney Center for autism education and support. According to the Kinney Center web site the Center's mission is  "...to provide multi-disciplinary education and research opportunities for students, teachers, professionals, and parents who seek to improve and extend opportunities, outcomes, quality of life and best practices in treatment for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)."

Currently, the Center offers three key services to families with autistic children, a $20 application fee is required for participation in all programs:

• A month-long, after school social skills program that meets once a week to help ASD kids to learn and develop social skills. The program costs $160 for a month of one-hour sessions. The program is based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) principles and is suitable for children without high levels of aggression. Weekly sessions are divided up by age group and are available for kids from ages 3 to 18. Visit the Kinney Center After School Social Skills Program web page for more information.
• A monthly kids' night out program that offers a structured activity and play-time in a supervised environment. To apply for the kids' night out program, visit the Kinney Center Kid's Night Out Program web page.
• A 2 to 5 week long summer camp that runs from 10am until 3pm and provides typical summer camp activities such as swimming, crafts, games and sensory experience presented in a way that is supportive of and friendly for autistic kids. Campers have a 1:1 support staff ratio and are organized into appropriate age groups. To find out more about camp at the Kinney Center for 2011, bookmark the Kinney Camp web page and visit early in 2011 for updated camp dates and fees. Fees for 2010 were $840 for 2 weeks and $1020 for 3 weeks, $1200 for 4 weeks and $1400 for 5 weeks from June 28th to July 19th.

To find out more about the Kinney Center, visit the Kinney Center web site, contact the Center by phone at 610-660-2170 or email to kinneyautism@sju.edu.