Press Release

November 13, 2006
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Melissa Campbell
973-972-4564 (office)
732-236-1569 (cell)

UMDNJ Hosts a Music Program for Autistic Adolescents and their Families
November 18th Event Provides Rare Family Venue

NEWARK—Families affected by autism are taking advantage of a program offered by The Autism Center of New Jersey Medical School titled "Mostly Music." Supported by a grant from The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation of Ridgewood, NJ, this program provides live musical entertainment in a monitored and supportive venue. Parents and adolescents with autism enjoy the music, camaraderie and social opportunity the evening provides.

The next Mostly Music event will take place on Saturday, November 18 at 5:45 p.m. at the University Behavioral Health Science Building on the UMDNJ Campus, 183 South Orange Avenue.

Cuban Jam, a salsa band based in Jersey City, will provide the musical entertainment.

"Mostly Music," conceived in 2004 as a way to engage families affected by autism, is part of "Bridging the Gap," an innovative outreach program for adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders and their parents and family members. The program is designed to entertain families with live musical performances, in an atmosphere of friendship and support.

"We are thrilled to create and support "Mostly Music" so that families in the greater Newark community feel more empowered, less isolated and more educated when dealing with the challenging life-span issues of autism," says Linda Walder Fiddle, executive director and founder of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation.

Walder Fiddle's foundation will be honored in December at the Third Annual Autism Benefit for its role in advancing services for adolescents with autism and their families. The event will take place on December 2 at The Mezzanine, 744 Broad Street, Newark. Tickets are $275 per person, $500 per couple and include a cocktail hour, silent and live auction, dinner, dancing and a dessert hour. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact Marcy Gitterman at 732-326-5643 or mgitterman@pricelessevents.org.

UMDNJ is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 5,500 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and a school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental health and addiction services network.