On May 26, 2026, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) Newsroom announced that the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (CADD) received a $500,000 grant from the Autism Grant Program. Funding UHCL’s Connecting the Dots program and others.

Since 2016, the Autism Grant Program has awarded UHCL $500,000 every two years. For the past decade, the grant has funded the university’s Connecting the Dots program. This service, along with the wide range of services offered by CADD, is completely free of charge to qualifying individuals and families.

Connecting the Dots

CADD offers the Connecting the Dots program free of charge. The program assists families with children ages 2 to 18 years old and is six to eight weeks long, with each session focusing on the family’s individual goals and needs.

This includes working with the child and caregiver to identify and reduce challenging behavior, along with helping to improve the child’s communication skills. This program equips caregivers with the tools and skills they need to foster growth in their child.

Caregivers being part of the process is greatly encouraged in this program, as it’s emphasized that there is success in seeing both the child and caregiver grow and learn together during the program.

The program manager of Connecting the Dots, Patricia Turnmire, explained that services can be provided to anyone who is part of the qualifying child’s life. This includes extended family and other service providers if communication is permitted by the legal caregiver.

 “We really want to provide services not only to the one caregiver,” said Turnmire. “We want to make sure that when those children leave here, the people in their environment, the people in their community, know how to best support them.”

Future Vision  

Turnmire stated that the center is expected to serve about 220 families over the next 2 years. As for future goals, she explained that one of the ways they hope for the clinic to grow is through the use of Telehealth. The online tool would allow CADD resources to reach those who are unable to travel to the clinic in-person.

As CADD continues to be funded by the Autism Grant Program, the goal is for its Applied Behavior Analysis services to reach farther across the state of Texas.

Because of the recent grant, a program called Group Social Skills is now also an option for families. This four-week service will teach conversational skills, internet safety, and how to tolerate winning or losing. This group is a new addition to the many programs that are available through CADD at UHCL.

The CADD Community

Turnmire, reflecting on her experience in CADD, explained it as “…very hands-on, very feedback-heavy, and supportive.” She continues, “I love working with the graduate students. They are always reading new research; they are bringing new ideas. I get to watch them grow as practitioners.”

For more information, visit the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities website.