News and Events
SEARCH yields answers: Unique program pays off for 8 Henrico students
By Tom Lappas, Citizen Editor 06/16/11
They came to celebrate one of the most rewarding years of their lives. They left with an entirely new reason to be excited.
Eight Henrico County high school students who have forms of autism gathered at Bon Secours St. Mary's Hospital June 10 for graduation ceremonies to mark their completion of a nine-month program known as Project SEARCH, which provided them real-world job training and experience fulfilling various hospital duties.
Little did they know that they would leave the hospital that day with full-time jobs there.
The surprise announcement moved the students and their families – as well as hospital staff members – to tears of joy as they shouted, hugged and smiled.
Program trains young people with autism for jobs
Rates of autism, a developmental disability that shows up as difficulties with communication, social interaction and behavior, have increased significantly in recent years. One of the first signs of autism noticed by parents is a young child's lack of eye contact.
"The U.S. is more interested in autism than in any other disability that I have ever seen in my decades-old career," Wehman said yesterday at a ceremony honoring the students. "What they are learning is the tremendous potential and gifts that many people with autism bring to the table."
Bon Secours, VCU, Henrico County Public Schools and the state departments of Rehabilitative Services and Education are all partners in the job-training effort.
View the video from the Project SEARCH graduation, http://www.bonsecoursgoodsharing.org/mission-values/projectsearch
Students with autism learn work skills
High school senior Ann Marie Chevalier quickly folds baby blankets in the mother-infant unit at St. Mary's Hospital -- and then moves on to her next task. Downstairs in the hospital basement Ben Woolf and Adonis (A.J.) Bullock Jr., also students at Henrico County high schools, assemble and stack plastic tables as one of their work assignments for the day. Chevalier, Woolf and Bullock all have an autism spectrum disorder, a developmental disability that shows up as difficulties with communication, social interaction and behavior. The students and three others are spending their last year of high school working at St. Mary's as part of a Virginia Commonwealth University research project looking at work-training models for young people with autism.
Read the Richmond Times Dispatch Article
Related Info:
SLIDESHOW: Working with autism
Autism statistics
Prevalence: On average, 1 in 110 children in the United States have an autism spectrum disorder. Estimates range from 1 in 80 to 1 in 240.
Gender: Autism is four to five times more common in boys than girls
Communication skills : About 40 percent of children with an autism spectrum disorder do not talk at all.
Diagnosis: About 80 percent of parents notice problems by the time a child is 2.SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Diocese Promotes Disability Awareness
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond recently highlighted the VCU ASD Career Link's Research Project # 2 in their publication, The Catholic Virginian. Read the full text article (PDF | FlashPaper)
Transition from School to Adulthood for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders – Review and Recommendations
(Dawn Hendricks and Paul Wehman Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities)
Study examines methods for teaching social skills to teens with autism
