The goal of AutismWish’s Embracing Autism Grant program is to grant wishes from an autistic child’s Amazon wishlist of pre-approved sensory, therapeutic, or special interest items.  Parents are asked to submit a referral for the program, which will go through an approval process.  The child will then be entered in a monthly random selection for a chance to receive up to $100.00 worth of items from their wishlist. Once the child is selected, they will not be eligible to apply again for a period of 1 year to allow other children the opportunity to be selected. 

In order to be considered for the Embracing Autism Grant, your child must meet the following criteria:

• Currently residing in the United States
• Be under 18 years of age
• Officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and provide proof of diagnosis
• Application must be submitted by the child’s legal guardian/parent

For security purposes, you should exclude your child’s last name on all submitted documents/forms, but please include their first name or nickname.

Note: We will only refer to the name provided if your child is selected in order to announce them as a winner on social media and the Embracing Autism Podcast.

Ready to apply? Go to “Make A Wish” and click on ‘apply now’.

Applications/referrals for the Embracing Autism Grant are open throughout the year on a rolling basis.  Once the referral is submitted, your child will be entered into the next closest random selection and will remain in the selection pool until they are randomly selected or until the parent/guardian requests to remove them from the program.

Once you have verified your child meets all of the criteria, you can apply for the program by navigating to the ‘Make A Wish‘ page and filling out the referral application.  As a reminder, you will need a copy of proof of diagnosis and age to complete the referral. Once the application is submitted and complete, your child will automatically be entered into the following random selection and will remain in the selection pool each month until they are chosen for the Embracing Autism Grant of up to $100.00 toward their sensory Amazon* wishlist. Parents/legal guardians can request to have their child removed from the selection pull at any time.

To ensure that you don’t miss out on the best AutismWish has to offer you and your child, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and follow our Facebook or Instagram page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.  Subscribers of our newsletter will receive alerts for each time there is a random selection, invitations to special online events, updates on the latest offerings, helpful reminders for live podcast streams, Q&As, exciting new offers and much more! We also recommend you follow our social media pages as we actively post updates there as well.

Although AutismWish was initially created to provide autistic children support through wishlist fulfillment, we also make every effort to provide parents with the resources and support you need to navigate the world of autism.  Our best resource for you is undoubtedly the Embracing Autism Podcast! The podcast episodes provide support, guidance, tips, and information on everything from how to find financial resources to assist your child to what you can do to stop your child from self-injurious behaviors. You can also join us weekly on Fridays on YouTube as we livestream our podcast!

We also have a free Student Introduction Portfolio which will arrive directly to your inbox upon subscribing to our newsletter. This can be used to help you prepare your children’s teachers on how to properly care for your child. 

Additionally, we provide a monthly Parent Support Group that meets virtually on the first Tuesday of each month at 8pm ET and a private exclusive Embracing Autism Community. If you feel that you need a safe space to get advice or share your feelings through this journey, our virtual doors are always open.

We are currently developing additional resources as well, these will typically be added under the “Resources” tab on our website and include free printables like visual schedules, social stories, and more.

Other than the monthly AutismWish gifting program, we also have a Valentine’s Card Club in February as well as a Noise Reduction Earmuff Drive for the 4th of July. Information for those events is posted in our social media accounts as well as sent out via email in our newsletter. Make sure to sign up as these events are exclusively offered to our newsletter subscribers.

Thanks for asking! We are a small mom and pop style volunteer initiative! As such we are always seeking donations or volunteers to help us run our social media, edit podcast episodes, seek out sponsors, or simply spread the word.  If you are passionate about providing support and resources to autistic children and are interested in helping out, send us a message via our contact form or email us at info@autismwish.org! If you’d like to make a monetary gift instead, click here to Give Now. Thank you!