Friday Knights Program for Students with Autism Finds New Home at UAlbany

By Bethany Bump

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 22, 2025) — On a recent Friday night, a group of Capital Region parents gathered in a second-floor room of the Catskill building at the University at Albany, while their children participated in music, art, STEM activities and games one floor below.

As parents of children with autism, it had been a while since they’d had a night like this — with a few hours off to relax and socialize, secure in the knowledge that not far away their kids were being supervised by volunteers trained to support their needs and interests.

“I’ve taken my 6-year-old to soccer clubs and other programs before, and she would get scared and be off somewhere picking dandelions,” said Jessica Kumar, of Guilderland. “Most places don’t know how to handle kids like her, but here they do.”

She was referring to the Friday Knights Supported Recreation Program, which has found a new home at UAlbany this year. The program was founded in 2004 by College of Saint Rose Professor Susan DeLuke and ran for 20 years at the college, providing a supportive atmosphere where local youth with autism spectrum disorders and their families could go for recreation and socialization.

When the college’s closure last year left the program’s future in doubt, UAlbany’s School of Education worked with DeLuke to explore transitioning the program over to the University. It launched this spring, with three Friday night sessions this semester for local students and their families. The first two sessions were held in the Catskill building in March, and the third will take place this Friday.

“I think it’s really meaningful for our local families and kids to have something they love to go to, where they can connect with one another, make friends and get whatever level of support they need to participate,” said Haley Muir-Knox, program director and visiting assistant professor in UAlbany’s Department of Education and Counseling Psychology. "It’s an important resource that I think would be missing from the community if UAlbany didn’t take it on.”

The program is smaller in size than during its time at Saint Rose, accommodating 40 students compared to the 200 the program was serving at its peak. This is because the University wants to ensure it has the space, volunteers and funding to properly accommodate participants before expanding, said Muir-Knox.

Erin Van Denburgh was eager to bring her sons, 5-year-old Jake and 7-year-old Ryan, to Friday Knights after learning it would reopen at UAlbany. The South Colonie mom had heard rave reviews about the program some years earlier from a friend whose son had participated when it was at Saint Rose.

After just one session at UAlbany, she was impressed.

“They made my younger son a special schedule to accommodate him based off of what they saw last time,” she said. “It was just above and beyond.”

Before participants arrive, parents fill out a form specifying the type of support their child may require. Volunteers, which include UAlbany students, faculty, Saint Rose alumni and area teachers, are trained to supervise and engage the children in supportive activities, including art, music and movement, STEM activities and games.

“At the University at Albany, we have faculty members whose specialty is in autism and we have a strong special education program,” said Virginia Goatley, dean of the School of Education. “So it seemed a natural fit for our faculty and students to work with this population and have a special night together.”

UAlbany freshman Cianna Bailey, a mathematics major who hopes to one day teach seventh-grade math, volunteered with the program this semester after hearing about it from Dana Abbott, who came to the University from Saint Rose and taught her Explore Teaching as a Profession class.

“She would just marvel about it and go on and on,” Bailey said. “I knew based on how she was talking about it that I wanted to experience it for myself.”

Bailey and other volunteers helped design activities for the kids, including brain teasers like riddles and a “Guess the Sound” game that had students listen to different sounds and guess their source.

“I didn’t know anything about working with students with special needs, and this helped take away that unknown,” she said. “I feel like it gives them a place where they can be themselves and also be with people that are similar to them. It’s a safe learning space for them and for the community as a whole.”

The Friday Knights program was recently awarded a grant from the University’s Strategic Allocation of Resources (StAR) program, which will allow the program to expand to five sessions a semester during the 2025-26 academic year.

The goal is to grow the program slowly, expanding to up to 60 participants in the coming semester as more volunteers are recruited. Families who wish to participate are encouraged to contact [email protected].

“During the 20 years that the program was in place at The College of Saint Rose a strong community of support developed for both the participants in the recreation program and their families,” said DeLuke, who has been working with UAlbany to get the program up and running. “We watched children grow up and friendships develop. Older families became mentors to younger families as they shared their knowledge and experiences navigating services and everyday life. The families were heartbroken when they realized the program would be closing and so finding a new home for Friday Knights was a priority. I am so pleased that UAlbany has agreed to be that new home for Friday Knights.”