AutismWish is a volunteer-led initiative that is flexible to meet the needs of the autistic child. The Embracing Autism Grant program is designed to improve the child’s quality of life and increase or maintain independence by granting sensory or therapeutic items off of their autism-tailored Amazon Wishlist. AutismWish aims to grant up to $100.00 worth of items to a randomly selected eligible child each month. 

Note: Due to funding limitations, at this time there will be one drawing a month. Program may be paused when funding is unavailable.

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

• Must be a U.S. resident to apply, Amazon lists must be from U.S. www.amazon.com

• Child must be diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and proof of diagnosis must be included with your application (e.g. a simple note from your child’s doctor is sufficient).  Please do not disclose any private information other than First name, Diagnosis, and child’s age.

• Child must be 17 years of age or younger and proof of age must be submitted (e.g. including child’s age in the doctor’s note is sufficient).

• Application must be submitted by child’s legal guardian/parent. For security purposes, please exclude your child’s last name on all submitted documents/forms, only include their first name or a nickname.

Note: We respect your child’s privacy and aim to only ask for the absolute minimum information needed.

Children being referred to AutismWish can be referred by the following: 

• Parents or legal guardians
• Family members or close friends with detailed knowledge of the child’s Autism Diagnosis
• Medical Professionals such as primary care, neuropsychologist, therapist, developmental pediatrician, or other specialist as it relates to autism.

Yes, you may refer more than one child per household so long as they meet the criteria.  However, you must submit a separate referral form per child.

If you know of an autistic child who could benefit from sensory, therapeutic, or special interest items, submit an online referral on behalf of your child for consideration into the program. The application will stay open on a rolling-basis with a random selection drawn each month. We recommend signing up for our newsletter by entering your email on the bottom of the home page to receive a notification when random selections are occurring.  

NOTE: If your child is selected, you will be sent an email with important information and next steps to claim your child’s grant (e.g. wishlist guidelines must be met and proof of diagnosis included). You must have this completed and submitted to our team within 24 hours of receiving the email notification in order to be considered. Failure to submit the necessary information within the 24 hour window will result in a forfeiture of the grant, which will be passed on to the next person randomly selected.  

In order to increase the grant amount from the previous $20 limit to the new $100 limit, we are currently able to gift one child a month. This cap allows us to gift children with higher-cost items, which was requested by many parents in our programs. We hope to increase how many children we can bless in the future as we expand our reach and gain more sponsors. You can help us by spreading the word, following our social media pages, making a donation, or listening to the Embracing Autism Podcast!

• The list must contain items that are sensory, special interest, or therapeutic in nature for your child (this can range from particular toys, tools, clothing etc.). 

• Although there is flexibility on eligible items, certain items from your child’s may not be considered for gifting if they do not meet eligibility criteria (i.e. sensory, therapeutic, or special interest related). So make sure your items meet one of those categories.

• You must have at least three (3) items listed at $100.00 or below after taxes (hint: if you add the item to your Amazon cart and pretend to checkout, it will calculate the taxes for you). You may also list multiple items under $100.00 of which we will select a few and get as close to the $100.00 limit as possible without going over.

• Due to limited funding, items above the $100.00 threshold will not be considered at this time.

No, AutismWish does not grant experiences, celebrity meet and greets, etc. Our program is focused on granting wishes from Amazon wishlists for autistic children on a monthly basis. These items should be sensory, therapeutic, or special interest-related. If selected, your child will be granted up to $100 worth of items from their wishlist.

At this time, the AutismWish gifting program is only available to autistic children ages 17 and under.  We hope to expand our programs to adults in the future, funding-dependent.

The amount of gifts a child receives will depend on the cost per item.  Each child who is randomly selected will be allowed up to $100.00 worth of items from their wishlist.

• The wishlist must be created on Amazon.com (U.S. version) and a direct link provided to us in the application. Click here for instructions on how to share your Amazon wishlist.

• You may only submit one application per autistic child, however you may update that wishlist as needed. If there are additional eligible children, you must submit a separate referral form for each additional child with their own custom wishlist.

• There must be at least 3 items listed at $100.00 or below on your list.

• The wishlist must include your shipping address

Note: We strongly advise that you have this list ready to go when referring your child as you will have 24 hours to respond to our email with the needed information if your child is randomly selected

Important:

Proof of Diagnosis must be submitted in the referral form at time of submission and must include the following:

• Child’s first name
• Proof of autism/ASD diagnosis
• Age or year of birth

Some examples of proof of diagnosis include but are not limited to: 

• A doctor’s, psychologist’s or therapist’s note
• A therapy referral with autism listed as reason for appointment (ABA, PT, OT, ST)
• Diagnosis paperwork
• IEP/IFSP 

If providing the diagnosis paperwork, you only need to submit the page with the diagnosis as well as the page with your child’s name and age. We ask you to blackout any sensitive information other than those required above prior to sending file.

Note: We strongly advise that you have this documentation ready to go when referring your child as you will have 24 hours to respond to our email with the needed information if your child is randomly selected. Those who do not submit proof of diagnosis within the 24 hour window will forfeit their child’s grant, which will be gifted to the next randomly selected child. 

There is no deadline! Since our random selections will occur on a monthly basis, your child’s referral will simply roll into the next month’s selection opportunity.  However, if your child is drawn and has wishes granted, they will no longer be eligible for the AutismWish gifting program until 1 yr from the date of selection, at which point they can re-apply.

Referrals are open all year long with random selections occurring on a monthly basis.  This means your child will be entered into the next random selection from the date of referral. For specific dates, make sure to follow our social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram as well as signing up to our newsletter to received notifications when selections occur.

Yes! Feel free to contact a member of our team by emailing us at info@autismwish.org. Please allow 3-5 business days for a response as we are a very small team working on a high volume of applications.

Referrals must be 100% accurately completed in order to claim your child’s gift.  This means if your child is randomly selected, all five criteria must be met by the 24 hour deadline:

1. Form is submitted with parent’s email/name
2. Child’s name/age/bio is included (please do not leave blank or mark N/A)
3. Correct amazon wishlist link is provided (Note: this is different from a registry or collaboration invitation, those cannot be accepted)
4. Correct address is added to the amazon wishlist with at least 3 items listed at $100 or below (tax included)
5. Proof of Diagnosis is included

Note: Referrals that do not meet all five of these requirements by the deadline will forfeit their grant to the next randomly selected child.  

We will announce the winner of each month’s random selection on our livestream of the Embracing Autism Podcast, which will air on YouTube as well as our Facebook page. We will also follow up with you via the email you provide on the form, so it’s very important that you keep an eye on your inbox and add info@autismwish.org to your contacts list to avoid it going into your spam folder.

Congratulations! Once your child has been randomly selected (which will first be announced on the Embracing Autism Podcast livestream), we will then reach out to you via the email you provided on the form.  You will then have 24 hours to respond and provide the requested documentation/wishlist/etc in order to claim your child’s gift(s).

Note: Failure to respond in 24 hours will result in forfeiture of the grant which will be given to the next randomly selected child, so please check your email.

We will announce winners on the last Embracing Autism Podcast livestream of each month.  Our livestreams are available on YouTube and Facebook and air at 8pm ET each Friday. We will post reminders on social media as well as send them out via our newsletter, so make sure to subscribe!

Winners will first be announced during the last Embracing Autism Podcast livestream of each month.  Our livestreams air on Fridays at 8pm ET on Youtube and Facebook. We will also post an announcement with the winner’s details on our social media accounts (Facebook and Instagram).  The parent/guardian who made the referral will also be contacted via email.  Please make sure to add info@autismwish.org to your email contacts and check your spam folders as you will need to respond within 24 hours to claim your child’s grant.

We hope you will be able to find all your answers in the FAQ above, however if you have any questions about our programs at AutismWish, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@autismwish.org. Please allow 3-5 days for a response.

Random selection winners are determined by eligibility and availability of funding. There may be cases where a grant cannot be given due to lack of funding.  In this case, your child’s information will be kept on file and submitted into the next available random selection.  You will be contacted if your child has been randomly selected. There is no guarantee that your child will be randomly selected or gifted, however we will do our best to ensure equal opportunity for all (including the removal of past winners from the random selection for a period of one year in order to be fair to other participants).  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@autismwish.org.