Welcome to the
South Okanagan Assessment Program (SOAP)
Innovation to Clean up the Over 6
Autism Assessment Wait List
Dr. Miriam Oliver, Pediatrician and Qualified Autism Assessment Specialist
Janette Grant, Speech Language Pathologist
Maureen Wourms Larson, Speech Language Pathologist
The South Okanagan Assessment Program is a new, collaborative and multidisciplinary autism assessment program that first launched in August 2024. The first program of its kind, SOAP works directly with School-Based Teams within School Districts 53 and 67 to triage the highest-needs children first and provide cost-free autism assessments to those families. This 12-month pilot project aims to significantly improve equity of access to assessment, time to assessment, quality of assessment, cost of assessment, and the volume of assessments in the South Okanagan.
What is Needed
The program is currently looking for funding to complete the 12-month pilot project, we hope that a year of solid data – and stories of children whose lives are improved by this efficiency will compel government to make it a permanent funded program in the South Okanagan and beyond.
Meet our Team
Left to right: Maureen Wourms Larson, Dr. Miriam Oliver, and Janette Grant.
BECOME A DONOR AND SUPPORT SOAP
Your donation is vital to the success of this program. We strive to provide families and children the support they need to thrive. SOAP is a pilot project that depends entirely on community donations. While $500 purchases one autism assessment, any donation helps!
If you would like to donate to SOAP, please use one of the following options:
1. E-transfer to finance@osns.org and specify with your e-transfer that your donation is for SOAP.
2. By credit card by calling OSNS at 250-492-0295 and specify that your donation is for SOAP.
We appreciate your support. Thank you!
Meet our Donors
We would like to thank our generous donors for their support:
Penticton Downtown Rotary Club
Penticton Sunrise Rotary Club
Rotary Club of Oliver
Rotary Club of Osoyoos