Kreider Services, Inc.
http://www.kreiderservices.org
500 Anchor Road
P.O. Box 366
Dixon, IL 61021
Phone: 815-288-6691
Fax: 815-288-1636
TTY: 815-288-5931
Kreider Services, Inc. (KSI) has been providing services since 1952, the agency’s mission is to help individuals with disabilities reach their fullest potential.
KSI currently serves over 550 people each year, including 10 children and 41 adults with autism in Lee, Jo Daviess, Whiteside, Ogle, Bureau, Winnebago and Carroll Counties in rural northwestern Illinois. KSI offers an in-house production department a developmental (prevocational) skills training program, a community employment program, supervised residential living adults (1 home specializing in services for adults with autism), a summer program for teens with developmental disabilities, a 0-3 early intervention program for children, a Special Olympics program, and numerous supportive services for people with autism and other developmental disabilities and their families.
KSI is a major provider of services to individuals with autism and their families in northwestern Illinois. KSI currently serves over 550 people each year, including 10 children and 41 adults with autism in Lee, Jo Daviess, Whiteside, Ogle, DeKalb, Bureau, Winnebago and Carroll Counties in rural northwestern Illinois. KSI begins providing services to children through the agency’s Early Intervention program. KSI works jointly with Lee County Special Education Association to support children and families. The Early Intervention program provides developmental screenings; an integrated playgroup; therapy services (developmental, speech, OT, PT) as needed; a family resource area; and toy lending.
In the past two years, KSI opened a group home for adults who have autism in addition to a developmental disability. This home has a specially designed sensory room along with many visual cues to meet the needs of the people who live there. In addition, KSI provides residential and in-home respite to families who have members with autism. KSI works with families in the home-based services, assisting them in obtaining the services they need and then billing the State of Illinois for those services. Individuals with autism attend the KSI Day Services program, where they either participate in prevocational skills training or work in the production department. KSI also provides supported employment to individuals who have a diagnosis of autism.
KSI has a formal collaboration with the Autism Spectrum Institute at Illinois State University, and has been actively participating in the Illinois Autism/PDD Training and Technical Assistance project for the past 8 years. Three KSI staff have been designated as trainers. KSI staff has worked together with other team members to plan and coordinate trainings and consultations to various parent, educational and community groups in Northwest Illinois on various topics of autism. This group has brought nationally known speakers to the community for an annual autism conference, speakers such as Temple Grandin, Jeanette McAfee, Tony Atwood and Jed Baker have all presented. KSI staff also provided instruction in and participated in an autism class offered by Illinois State University, called “Autism Spectrum Disorders Community Wide Basic Level Training.”
KSI also houses the Regional Autism Library for families in northwestern Illinois area. The library includes books, videos, curriculum, samples of visual support systems and sensory materials for checkout by both family members and professionals. KSI serves as one of the 4 rural sites to participate in Tele-health Systems, a joint venture between the Illinois Department of Human Services and the SIU School of Medicine. The Tele-health system makes experts more readily accessible to rural communities, and is useful in promoting collaboration between groups located at a distance.