{"id":237649,"date":"2026-04-19T06:40:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/237649\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T06:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:40:24","slug":"south-florida-autism-school-builds-skills-community-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/237649\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida autism school builds skills, community year-round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">HIALEAH, Fla.  \u2014 April is Autism Awareness Month, but at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfacs.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sfacs.org\/\">South Florida Autism Charter School<\/a>, students are celebrated every day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/18\/escuela-de-autismo-del-sur-de-florida-desarrolla-habilidades-y-comunidad-todo-el-ano\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/18\/escuela-de-autismo-del-sur-de-florida-desarrolla-habilidades-y-comunidad-todo-el-ano\/\">Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The campuses are more than schools for many families \u2014 they\u2019re communities they call home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Students learn life skills that go beyond the classroom, from making a bed to swimming, with a focus on giving every child a full and meaningful childhood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Senior David Floer is one example of that mission in action. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The 12th grader and singer recently performed one of his favorite songs on stage \u2014 in front of a crowd of thousands \u2014 a moment that reflects the confidence he has built at the school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Organizers say events like Saturday\u2019s walk help fund programs that support those opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe are going to be celebrating autism. We are going to make people see who we are here, how loud we can get it,\u201d said founder Tamara Moodie. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we celebrate in the month of April. Today is just to show the community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Families travel from across South Florida \u2014 from as far north as Dania Beach to as far south as Homestead \u2014 to access the school\u2019s services, highlighting a growing need for specialized programs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThey feel, they love, they hug, they want experiences,\u201d Moodie said. \u201cSomething like this gives our kids an opportunity to do all the things that their brothers and sisters experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The school offers a range of extracurriculars, including key club, dance, cheerleading and sports such as basketball and soccer \u2014 all aimed at ensuring students have the same opportunities as their peers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">While the event is billed as a walk, organizers say it represents something bigger \u2014 a celebration and a commitment to inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 April is Autism Awareness Month, but at the South Florida Autism Charter School, students are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-237649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}