Charity profile

SNAP (Special Needs Adapted Program) a non-profit Centre based in Durbanville, offers one-on-one early intervention services and schooling to children with autism and other special needs.
This early intervention treatment Centre (SNAP Education) started in 1998 with only one child. The Centre offers workshops and tutoring to local and international families.

Today SNAP also offers Grade 0 – Grade 7 foundation phase schooling (SNAP Academy) to 80 learners, following an adapted CAPS curriculum. The Academy opened its doors in June 2006.
Autism is a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, resulting in a developmental delay, ranging from very mild to severe. Some of the common characteristics of abnormal behaviour are difficulty with social interaction, communication, reasoning and sensory processing.
In South Africa 1 out of 88 children are affected and an increase of 500% has taken place over the past 5 years. Not enough government schools exist to help these children and the journey of special needs education remains complex.
However with the correct intervention the outcomes for these children are amazing and more than 50 % of them are usually mainstreamed while the rest receives instruction in mainstream work but adapted to suit their special needs.
There are very few facilities catering for these children in South Africa and as such the program also do not receive any funding from government at this stage and rely on the generosity of individuals and businesses to provide these children with access to beneficial schooling.
SNAP currently employs approximately 75 members of staff including trained teachers, class assistants and tutors. The programme is based on the international protocol of the treatment of autism and we welcome and encourage families to start with the intervention as soon as possible; children as early as two years of age can signed up for one-on-one intervention workshops.