Fund Raising For Travis

Hello! We are Travis’ parents, Laura and Jeff, and have set up this web page in response to family and friends who have been so loving and generous in wanting to help us on this journey. We appreciate all the love and support you give us, and your well wishes are a most valuable resource for all of us!



Travis is a beautiful, sweet boy with an adorable laugh and twinkle in his eye. After developing normally for the first year of his life, Travis stopped babbling around 12 months and became delayed in other areas of development. At 18 months, he was diagnosed with autism. Autism is a developmental disability resulting in challenges in language, communication, cognition, and social interaction. While there are many things that are still challenging and frustrating for Travis, he also gets a lot of joy out of life. He loves to climb and play outside, run around with his big sister Julia (5 yrs old), and play in his "Son-Rise" playroom with family, volunteers, and therapists. At 4 yrs old, he has progressed over the last 2 years from communicating with signs and sounds to speaking in multiple word sentences, and developing much more interaction with others.



Travis’ parents are helping Travis overcome his autism with a home-based, child-centered Son-Rise Program® in combination with biomedical interventions and other therapeutic options. The Son-Rise Program® has helped thousands of children move towards recovery, using an optimistic, loving approach that is based on the belief that all children have a limitless potential for extraordinary healing and growth. Funds raised initially were used to help Travis’ parents attend the Son-Rise Program® Start Up, a five-day group training course at the Autism Treatment Center of America™ in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in September of 2008. Additional funds were used for Laura to attend the advanced Son-Rise training programs Maximum Impact (in March 2009) and New Frontiers (November 2009), as well as to support his enrollment in other therapeutic settings such as the Bridges Program at Texas Children’s Hospital, where he received Floortime, speech, and occupational therapy for a year and a half. Current donations are being used towards continuing private therapy with his former Bridges therapists following the closing of the Bridges program in September 2010 due to budget cuts . To find out more about The Son-Rise Program® visit the website: www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/.



To send a donation for Travis, you can send a check to our address below, or click the "Donate" button on the right to donate with a credit card using PayPal. Please note that this donation will not be tax deductible since we are not a non-profit organization, as the funds raised will help one particular individual. Any amount is most appreciated and helpful, but nothing is as valuable as all your positive thoughts and prayers! We are amazed at the generous outflow of kindness that has already come our way in response to starting this journey. Everyone seems to know someone who is willing to share their story, experience, advice, or information about a new therapy, dietary intervention, educational program, etc. This support has been so very helpful by both providing us information and also letting us know that we’re not doing this alone. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!!!



- Laura Licato and Jeff Meier



Travis Meier

4607 Rainbow Valley Ct, Missouri City, TX 77459



For more information, email: travismeier@sbcglobal.net

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Hurricane Ike

Well, it's still slow going getting things moving for Travis' therapy. We finally heard that one program that he is on a waiting list for will let us start individual therapy in early November, and then evaluate him for admission into their full program after 2 more months so hopefully Travis can get a spot in early 2009. Meanwhile, another school he is on a wait list for has a group therapy class twice per week that helps prepare the kids for admission into the school, and Travis was supposed to start there this week but it was postponed due to the teacher being ill, then a switch in the days he would attend, and finally Hurricane Ike. So now we're not sure when he can start...! We have evacuated to San Antonio since Jeff had to go there to relocate an airplane and we didn't want to stay behind to weather the storm without him. We're not sure when we can go back (basically whenever Jeff's company decides they want the airplane) or when the power will come back on, so we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully our kittys Smudge and Sushi made it through the storm ok on their own! We're thankful that it sounds like the damage to our neighborhood was minimal and look forward to getting back home. Both Julia and Travis have done remarkably well being taken out of their routine and entertaining themselves in the hotel room without their usual toys, but I'm not sure how much longer they're going to last... :)