OASN is a faith based non-profit organization founded 5/12/2011 serving families in the state of FL within driving distance of Ocala, FL. We changed our name from Outreach Autism Services Network to Outreach Alliance Supporting Neurodevelopment effective January 2024 to reflect our outreach to serve the following neurodevelopmental disorders:

 

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), Autism, Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Developmental Disorder (ID), and Learning Disorders. 

 

 

There may be others diagnoses (not just autism as it was in the past) added to this list in the future. Our expanded focus, brain logo and our name reflect what we have been doing in practice in alignment with our mission statement (see below).

 

MISSION STATEMENT

To facilitate the best outcomes for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. This is accomplished by offering educational programs, support meetings, events and referrals to the individuals, families & caregivers served. All that we do is lead by faith and hope to impact our community in a positive way.

Our new name reflects our alliance with:

The families OASN serves

• Our Community Partners

• Functional, Holistic & Traditional Medical Providers

•Therapeutic Providers 

Our goal is to focus on the development of the brain (including the gut/brain connection). In our programs, services & events, we focus on what is possible. The children we serve are seen holistically, not just as a numberWe focus on what the brain can do, even if it takes a little longer to accomplish or if it has to be done in a different way.

 

It is important to nourish the body with good quality food, water, & nutrients (please see our list of functional medicine providers in our resource guide to make an appointment for specific recommendations and strategies) to help the brain to function at an optimal level. We welcome functional medicine and holistic providers to offer webinars to aid students, staff, and the families we serve to learn the best strategies for healthy living. We encourage companies or providers interested in offering webinars (must be no cost to our families & OASN) to email us at bforde@oasn.info. 

 

Our alliances in the community help us to refer out for medical/therapeutic interventions (see below for more information on this). With funding available, we can expand and offer more to the growing community we serve. Until then, we will refer families to our parent recommended resources in our resource guide and expand our community alliances to ensure that individuals with neurodevelopmental diagnoses are being supported (not financially).

 

At OASN, we get it because we have walked down the road with our own children (just ask our executive and associate directors).

 

Please note: OASN is not a medical or therapeutic clinic (we do refer out to medical and therapeutic providers).

 

Everything we do is dependent upon donations & funding received. 

WHAT DOES OASN DO?

We currently provide programs and services for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders ages 5 to 21 (to 22nd birthday) with an intake form on file. When notated by an asterisk (*), indicates offered for all ages. Please see our resource guide that offers resources compiled by our staff for all ages.

ANNUAL EVENTS* Super Hero FUN Walk, Community Resource Fair, and the OASN Christmas Party.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS We offer two holistic faith based educational programs: Our subsidiary Christian private school-Ocala Preparatory Academy & our FUN Educational Summer Program (similar what public schools call ESY). This summer program is a 4 day a week program (3 days hands on, faith based holistic refresher core academic classes, & one day of fun & art on Fridays) is offered during the month of June annually. 

PARENT SUPPORT Offered monthly in our conference room (or via Zoom) for parents of children with a neurodevelopmental disorder(s). We also offer a Facebook group solely for parents of children with an intake form on file with OASN (parent to parent support).

RESOURCE GUIDE* Updated annually or as often as possible.

REFERRALS Most referrals are providers found in our resource guide (or may be added if we find a resource that is helpful).

WEBINARS* Offered when we have speakers available on topics that will be helpful for the families OASN serves.

*notates is open for all ages. 

 

Help us fundraise if you want a service or event funded you do not see listed. Contact bforde@oasn.info to find out how you can help! 

HOW IS OASN FUNDED?

OASN Services and Events are dependent on grant funding and donations received.

Our subsidiary school, Ocala Preparatory Academy (an inclusion holistic faith based Christian private school) is funded by choice scholarships & parent financial participation.

Help us sponsor a child to attend our inclusion school! Your sponsorship help can defray or eliminate a family's out of pocket costs not covered by a choice scholarship. 

Non-profit organizations are sorely underfunded post 2020! Your tax-deductible donation truly helps LOCAL families! (CH39857)

Please remember this when you talk to our volunteer that answers our phone OR our (under)paid staff that work at OASN because they feel led by their faith to be in service.

 

What can YOU do to help?

Making a tax deductible donation helps us continue assisting our community with the increasing costs of providing our current services and events. You can also help us fund a desparately needed larger building so that we can expand our current services! This cannot be done without additional funding. You can ask local businesses, government officials, foundations or anyone to fund OASN and the work we do by providing tax deductible donations (CH39857).

 

You can make a difference in the lives of the families we serve! Even small donations help! We are a local grassroots organization-not a national non profit organization. Monies raised here stays here. 

GENERAL # (352) 462-0168 August-May 8:45am-2:30pm Monday-Friday June 8:45am-12:30pm Tuesday-Friday

K-12 EDUCATION # (352) 509-4085 August-May 8:45am-2:30pm Monday-Friday June 8:45am-12:30pm Tuesday-Friday

HOURS OF OPERATION August-May 8:45am-2:30pm Monday-Friday June 8:45am-12:30pm Tuesday-Friday

WE ARE CLOSED DURING THE FOLLOWING TIMES Spring Break, Good Friday, the last week in May, the entire month of July, the first week in August, Thanksgiving Week, Christmas Break, staff work days and all major holidays.

 

Additional note: Our hours of operation are subject to change. 

 

All that we do is lead by our faith. 

 

This organization was started in 2011 because our executive director could not find services, support or assistance in Marion County, FL for her own children. Currently, we refer out and strive to provide services (when funding is in place) for children ages 5 to 22 with the following diagnoses:

Attention Deficient/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), Autism, Global Developmental Delay, Intellectual Developmental Disorder (ID), and Learning Disorders. There may be others diagnoses (not just autism as it was in the past) to this list in the future. 

Services are still, after all these years, grossly underfunded. Due to this, OASN's role in the community is to point families to resources available regionally (& sometimes statewide since other counties are having similar issues of having limited services available) and to get funding to provide needed services (which, unfortunately, has become increasingly more difficult post 2020).

This is why OASN is an Alliance because we align with our community partners, families and the community at large to support those with neurodevelopmental disorders. Collectively, we must all work together as a group to support one another. We will not have all the programs and services that are needed due to funding. That is why we need to form alliances to get what is needed for the families we serve. If you know of an organization, person or clinic that OASN should be in alliance with, email bforde@oasn.info

OASN FOREVER HOME 

We continue our search for our forever home for OASN! Our needs are as follows:

 

1. A lodge, church, school, or similar type of building with a minimum 6500 square feet and at least 2 acres of land. This property must be zoned PUD or B2 and not part of a homeowner's association.       

OR

 2. PUD or B2 land (we must have this zoning to be able to build an building for educational purposes) and at minimum, 2 acres to be able to expand.

Our current location is in SW Ocala (on SW 60th Avenue near 200) so we are seaching for a location between 484 and 200 (or just a bit north or south) near 75 (preferably west of 75 but would consider just east of 75 as well). Staying within this boundary area will enable us to continue to serve families that have moved close to our current location that has been our home for 8 years.

Many of our staff and families we serve are Marion Oaks residents, so we would love to serve in this community! 

 

Finding our forever home means that we can expand our offerings to the community. Help us help the community by your donations or creating an alliance with OASN!

You can contribute financially to our forever home fund by clicking here. We also appreciate your prayers to help us with getting funding to build or to purchase a property.

 OUR BEGINNINGS

OASN was started as a once a month support group at College Road Baptist Church on May 12, 2011. When OASN was founded, our original name was Ocala Autism Support Network. See OASN History for more information about how we started and more information about some of the pictures listed above.

We have done all of this guided by our faith through Jovovah, God. our father, every step of the way! 

OASN HISTORY

Outreach Alliance Supporting Neurodevelopment, Inc. (OASN) is a non-profit organization founded May 12, 2011 by our executive director, who could not find services and support for her own children,. OASN was founded solely to offer one service; a monthly support meeting that was then known as Ocala Autism Support Network. 
Support meetings were initially offered at College Road Baptist Church. That same year, we had our first Christmas party at this church. In year one of our young organization, parents expressed a need for programs and services. In April 2012, we incorporated (as our original non profit name) Ocala Autism Support Network & became a 501(c)(3) non profit organization.
In 2014, we changed our name to Outreach Autism Services Network to reflect our outreach to autism families that needed support and services within driving distance of Ocala/Marion County, FL) and became a non-profit organization. In January 2024, we went through our final name change to:
Outreach Alliance Supporting Neurodevelopment
Each step of the way, retained the acronym
OASN
but outreached to serve more families each time.....
Our first OASN grant was for respite care that was provided at College Road Baptist Church. Our next grant was for summer camp that was held at College Road Baptist Church, later at Redeemer Lutheran Church and was also offered one year at Brick City Center for the Arts. For many years, we met at churches (we are grateful to all the churches that have assisted us over the years) and Christian organizations for our support meetings, programs, and services. Over the years we have offered a bowling league, sponsored swim lessons, World Autism Awareness Day celebrations, and more. Click here to be directed to our current events and services page. 

 

OASN has always been an expression of Christian faith, founded to help families that have struggled with finding support, services and receiving a formal neurodevelopmental diagnosis.

Since we have been able to receive donations, we have always sought funding to provide services based on what OASN families have expressed a need for. In 2015, 70% percent of the calls we received were for education.

In December 2015, after lots of prayer and mindfulness, OASN started the process to open our subsidiary inclusion school, Ocala Preparatory Academy, After being in two smaller offices, we were excited to move to our current building in March 2016.  This move was done as a huge leap of faith by our board of directors that our executive director would be able to raise the funds to stay in our current building long term. We have since outgrown this buildng and need a larger space. We appreciate your prayers and donations to find or build a larger facility.

Everything we do has always been done within the framework of our Christian faith. In the past, our faith has taken a sideline because we did not want to turn away federal funding needed for OASN programs and services. In the spring of 2022, OASN learned that there was an Executive Order issued May 3, 2018, to ensure that faith-based organizations have strong advocates in the White House and throughout the Federal Government. This has not been the case in the past for faith-based organizations. Moving forward, we are faith based in all that we do.

NON DENOMINATIONAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 

OASN abides by Christian principles in all that we do:

Believe

Our students are taught to live out Christian principles at school, home, and in the world.

Learn

We look at our students holistically and ask for God's direction in all that we do. Our small class sizes and holistic approach help us to achieve this daily goal of supporting each student's success.

Lead

Our students are taught the importance of their character, morality and integrity. We are mindful of this in our daily prayers with our students and in our morning staff meetings.

Serve

Our students are taught that they have a greater purpose in life. Through mindful prayer and instruction, our staff helps guide our students to learn what their true purpose is.

 

EXPANSION PLANS=CAPITOL CAMPAIGN

Please contact our Associate Director, Ana Vonsander at avonsander@oasn.info for more information about our capital campaign.  You can contribute financially to our forever home fund here.

Our intake form is available to complete and submit online for individuals with autism up to age 21. Completing our intake form helps us refer you out for needed services and we can also update you on upcoming OASN events and services. 

We know the road, so we have paved it for others to have an easier journey!™

OASN Logo just acronym FINAL

What are Neurodevelopmental disorders?

Neurodevelopmental disorders are types of disorders that influence how the brain functions and alters neurological development, causing difficulties in social, cognitive, and emotional functioning.

HUGE thanks to Howard Middle School and the Jr. National Honor Society for volunteering, choosing OASN as their study project, and for their generous donation. Community support allows OASN to offer low cost/no cost programs/services. We are so grateful!

Find us on Facebook

OASN offers a Facebook "like" page for general information and news about the brain and neurodevelopment. OASN also posts information about the programs, services and events we provide and other programs/services or events that are being offered in our region.  Be sure to support us by giving us a LIKE and following us.

Information about the Facebook OASN Parent Support Group

OASN offers a private group on Facebook for private discussions online 24/7 reserved solely OASN parents, caregivers that have a child with an intake form on file with OASN.  We hope you appreciate that we are protective of the privacy of this forum. Please feel free subscribe to the OASN "like" page if you want general information about the programs and services we provide. We look forward to adding you to our private forum!

Ember911™

The Ember911™ Child Safety Education Program is designed to teach children how to react in dangerous or life threatening situations. Ember is virtual Dalmatian who teaches fire safety along with other aspects of child safety in an interactive way with a host of animated characters.

  • positive review  Highly recommended for anyone looking for assistance with children with autism. Also any adults with autism looking for help, this is the place to go. Highly skilled and knowledgeable people ready to assist you and many others as well. If you haven't been to a Support meeting on Wednesday, you must go. Handouts, up to date information and much more on a weekly basis.

    Samuel J. Matychak III Avatar Samuel J. Matychak III
    February 27, 2019

    positive review  I am so thankful I was invited to attend this class. The amount of knowledge that Anne Marie had was mind blowing. I am looking forward to some positive changes in my son's life.

    Shirley Groover Avatar Shirley Groover
    January 19, 2019
  • positive review  Magnificent and amazing people!! Highly recommend this for anyone who needs assistance with their child for support in Autism! Super knowledgeable and very helpful! They have saved my life and my family’s!!

    Reina Matychak Avatar Reina Matychak
    November 17, 2018

    A great organization. Absolutely amazing how much they do for kids with autism in our community. Thank you to all at the facility, and thank you to the donors who are able to help our kids. My son attended camp this week and absolutely enjoyed himself. He was able to learn and have fun.

    Melody Kirsch-Mosier Avatar Melody Kirsch-Mosier
    July 13, 2018
  • Outstanding organization and an answer to our prayers. An amazing community of people with expert knowledge, resources, and support!

    June Bunn Avatar June Bunn
    June 15, 2018

    The most wonderful,caring,dedicated group of people you will ever meet. We are so appreciative for all the hard work and dedication. The community needs this service and we will do all we can to support you.

    Ne Ne Lewis Avatar Ne Ne Lewis
    December 14, 2014
  • Very informative! Helped me understand I wasn't alone!!! Keep up the outstanding work!

    Marvin Grant Avatar Marvin Grant
    March 26, 2014

    The most wonderful,caring,dedicated group of people you will ever meet. We are so appreciative for all the hard work and dedication. The community needs this service and we will do all we can to support you.

    Ne Ne Lewis Avatar Ne Ne Lewis
    December 14, 2014