Richard Femenella

Richard Femenella Devotes His Efforts to the Autism Community

BY DEBBIE HALL / PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF RICHARD FEMENELLA

There is a cliché that states, “money makes the world go around,” and funding (money) is indeed needed by charities and nonprofits to provide services and products. The Autism Community Trust focuses on raising funds and donating to charities and nonprofits that provide services to the autism community in Southern Nevada.

There are several organizations offering resources, support groups and therapeutic services for individuals with autism and their families. Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada (FEAT) is a great first step on the journey of finding the right organizations that can fill those needs.

Richard Femenella is a highly talented individual dedicated to the hospitality industry and the autism community. He is the owner of Mae Daly’s Fine Steaks & Whiskeys, a classic steakhouse, and a hospitality veteran with a history of helping to establish other restaurants in the city, including Charlie Palmer. Femenella is the co-founder and president of Autism Community Trust and a longtime supporter of FEAT.

He can share the history of the city of Las Vegas, as well as the evolution of how the community has become a strong place for families with children, young adults and adults on the autism spectrum.

Femenella moved to Las Vegas in 1998, and in December 2000, his wife gave birth to their first child, a son named Joey Vegas, much later in life. “Right before he was two years old, in 2002, we started seeing that he was missing milestones. My wife realized that something was wrong. I stayed in denial for a little while,” Femenella explained.

“The first time we reached out for help was to the organization Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada,” he said. “This organization was comprised of approximately six mothers who had trunks full of pamphlets on various types of therapy and interventions for children with autism. Diane Butler came to our house. She was brilliant, very informative, and over the last 20 years has become one of our very best friends. However, at the end of her presentation on various therapies, there was one piece of bad news. There were no direct services for Applied Behavioral Analysis [ABA] therapy in Nevada. ABA is an evidence-based approach that has been proven to be the most effective method for helping individuals with autism succeed in everyday life and interactions. It can help with communication, behaviors and life skills and is based on a positive reinforcement approach. It requires registered behavior technicians [therapists], and we did not have a single trained therapist locally. There were a few occupational and speech therapists, and only one doctor at the time who was qualified to give an autism diagnosis.”

As parents, they had a decision to make: how to help their child? While they were willing to move to help their son, they instead decided to get involved, try to help and contribute to developing services.

Autism has been diagnosed since the 1940s. One of the first doctors to study autism, Ole Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D., managed a department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), dedicated to autism research, studies, health and therapies.

Over 20 years ago, Dr. Lovaas was invited to give a speech in Butler’s backyard to almost 100 people. His team at UCLA would then begin to fly into Las Vegas and start training mostly teenagers in parents’ homes, including Femenella’s home. They were trained and supervised in how to conduct applied behavior analysis therapy for children with autism.

One young man, Andrew Devitt, stood out. At age 15, he was a long-haired, skateboarding teenager when Femenella’s wife hired him to work with their son and learn alongside specialists from UCLA. Today, Devitt owns one of the state’s largest therapy centers for children with autism. He developed therapies using ABA. His business, Sports Social, serves nearly 900 children each week. He also owns Alien ABA, which accepts health insurance to ease the burden on families. Together, his organizations employ more than 75 certified therapists and a staff of 90.

The Lovaas Center in Las Vegas was founded in August 2005 by Erik Lovaas, the son of Dr. Lovaas and a former staff member of the UCLA Clinic for the Behavioral Treatment of Children. The center provides early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for individuals with autism, building on Dr. Lovaas’ 40 years of research at UCLA. They offer a comprehensive, home-based “wrap-around model” of treatment, collaborate with other agencies and provide training to parents and instructors in the Lovaas method of applied behavior analysis. Dr. Lovaas died in 2010, and his son Erik continues his work today.

Femenella’s partner in his ventures is Julie Ostrovsky, who, along with Femenella and other parents, hired Jennifer Strobel as the director of FEAT. Strobel assembled a strong board of directors, and FEAT has since grown into one of the state’s largest nonprofits serving individuals with autism. Strobel’s team includes the talented Yasadora Cabrerra, who helps Southern Nevada’s Spanish-speaking families and serves about 7,000 families in the Hispanic community. Devitt also donates space at Sports Social in his 20,000-square-foot facility.

“FEAT and Sports Social are the hub and where parents and families should start in our city to help their family member with autism,” Femenella said.

For many years, Southern Nevada could not meet the educational requirements needed to be certified to work with the autism population. Potential professionals had to leave Southern Nevada to obtain the credentials required by insurance companies. There are now several programs that help train professionals in this field.

Additionally, to become certified to work with the autism community, a registered behavior technician must have two years of clinical experience. However, Southern Nevada did not offer any clinical environments that met this requirement. When Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley was the CEO of the Touro University Western Division, she developed a clinic for autism treatment. As a result, individuals seeking to live in Southern Nevada can now become therapists and remain in the state.

Autism diagnosis and interventions can be costly. In 2009, the Nevada Legislature passed AB 162, sponsored by then-Assemblyman James Ohrenschall (not yet Sen. Ohrenschall). This landmark bill required state-regulated health benefit plans to cover screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for individuals younger than 18, or up to age 22 if still in high school. Signed into law by Gov. Jim Gibbons, AB 162 dramatically expanded access to services for families across Nevada.

Passing this expensive and often controversial legislation took a grassroots effort, led by Jan Crandy, a volunteer advocate and pioneer of ABA in Nevada. The autism community mobilized with strength and persistence, through a lot of letter writing and phone calls to legislators and the governor, to ensure this critical access-to-services bill became law.

“I’m proud to say in my new restaurant, Mae Daly’s, we run a vocational training program here during the day for young adults, mostly on the autism spectrum, but recently trained someone with Down syndrome. Anybody who wants to learn is welcome, but there’s a process they must go through to be part of the program,” Femenella stated.

“We work with the Desert Regional Center in the state of Nevada, which funds training hours for young adults. They pay for job coaches through Empower Us. We are also in a partnership with Andrew Devitt and Sports Social, who developed a one-year training program that must be completed before we can proceed at Mae Daly’s. This vocational program is a prerequisite for admission to our program. Young adults learn about hygiene, how to be a good employee, how to be on time for work, as well as other considerations necessary for employment. Then a state agency vets the candidates before we bring them in.

“Most of the time, Mae Daly’s will put them on our payroll, and they’ll become my employees until I think they’re ready to get a job out in the world.”

Dr. Temple Grandin, who has autism and is widely regarded as the foremost authority on autism in the United States, visited Sports Social during a visit to Las Vegas. She was extremely impressed that Devitt had found a way to bring together everything she had envisioned people with autism needed and put it under one roof, and was very impressed with the center.

“When families come to me for help, I refer them to Sports Social and Families for Effective Autism Treatment. Andrew Devitt gives them space in his 20,000-square-foot facility for their offices. I introduce them to Andrew, Yasadora or Jennifer, whether they’re English- or non-English-speaking people,” Femenella said.

“Over the last 23 years, Southern Nevada has been fortunate to have incredible people step up and invest in the autism community. I am honored to be part of this effort, driven by philanthropists, kind-hearted individuals and the wonderful people of Las Vegas who decided to change the landscape for those on the autism spectrum in our city,” he stated.

Autism Community Trust raises money through concerts and musical events. For more information, visit autismcommunitytrust.org.

Resource List

Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada
Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Southern Nevada (FEAT) is a Las Vegas-based nonprofit organization that provides support, resources, education and community programs for families and individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). featsonv.org

Autism Treatment Assistance Program
Nevada’s Autism Treatment Assistance Program (ATAP) was created to help parents and caregivers with the high cost of evidence-based therapies for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The statewide program provides temporary financial assistance for treatment of children under age 20 who are diagnosed by a physician, psychologist, child or adolescent psychiatrist, pediatric neurologist or other qualified professional. adsd.nv.gov/programs/autism/atap/atap

Nevada Early Intervention Services
Nevada Early Intervention Services (NEIS) provides free support to families, offering specialized instruction, audiology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and vision services. The program helps infants and children from birth to age 3 reach their full potential through information, education, resources and family support.
adsd.nv.gov/Programs/InfantsToddlers/Infants_Toddlers

Desert Regional Center
The Desert Regional Center (DRC) is a state agency serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas area. DRC focuses on community inclusion and self-sufficiency, offering person-centered planning, service coordination, job training, supported employment and various levels of residential care.
adsd.nv.gov/programs/intellectual/intellectual

Medicaid
Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health benefits to individuals who meet specific eligibility requirements. It covers people with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. medicaid.gov

Supplemental Security Income
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based program that provides monthly payments to individuals with disabilities, blindness or age 65 or older who have limited income and resources. To qualify for SSI due to ASD, an individual must have a medically determinable impairment that significantly limits their ability to function. ssa.gov/ssi