PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A Palm Beach County non-profit organization dedicated to helping people on the autism spectrum is serving up success.
Darrin Corso’s son Tristan keeps him busy.
"Honestly, his favorite thing in the world to do other than be on his iPad is play tennis," Corso said.
Tristan is living with autism. His dad said the COVID-19 pandemic has made their day to day more difficult.
"It was like just like that, the whole world shut down and we’re locked in the house basically," Corso said.
"It was a big sudden stop," said Lisa Pugliese, the founder of Love Serving Autism
Tristan is one of 200 people with autism learning tennis through Love Serving Autism.
"We teach communication and life skills to children and adults with autism through the sport of tennis. We shut down our programs all of our in-person classes," Pugliese said.
Pugliese said that's when they decided to go virtual, using Zoom to practice tennis and mindfulness.
"A lot of individuals have sensory input challenges, and so a lot of times they come to tennis and they are not regulated and just running around and hitting the tennis ball really calms their nervous system," Pugliese said.
Pugliese said they were struggling to take on new clients because of the pandemic, but now a $25,000 grant will allow them to expand their programming in the pandemic.
"We get to see each other and connect a provide that social interaction that they weren’t able to receive," Pugliese said.
For more information about Love Serving Autism, click here.