A ceremony to announce the establishment of the Florida State University Early Childhood Autism Program Clinic (FSU ECAP) at FSU Panama City will be held on Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. CST.   The event will be held at the FSU ECAP Clinic, which is located on the first floor of the Technology Building in Room B-128. 

FSU Panama City will also recognize the generosity of the George A. Butchikas Autism Foundation’s support of ECAP by naming the new clinic in honor of Camille Butchikas. The state-of-the-art Camille Butchikas ECAP Clinic will be used by FSU ECAP to provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services to children diagnosed with autism and other related disorders. 

Previously an “in-home only” program, FSU ECAP will now be able to further meet the needs of children in the program by giving parents the option to have therapy provided in the home, in the clinic, or across both locations. The clinic will provide a quiet, enriched environment for therapy, as well as a technologically-advanced location for training of therapists and conducting innovative autism research. 

The partnership between the George A. Butchikas Autism Foundation, the FSU ABA Master's program, and ECAP began in 2001 soon after the FSU programs were first established. Since that time, hundreds of children in Bay County and their families have benefited from program services made possible through contributions which now total $330,000 from the Butchikas Autism Foundation. The Butchikas Autism Foundation also made a $15,000 contribution to assist in furnishing and equipping the new clinic.    

For more information about FSU ECAP, contact Program Director Dr. Amy Polick at (850) 770-2252 or by email to apolick@pc.fsu.edu or Clinical Director Rachel Wagner at (850) 770-2241.