Nonprofit Spotlight

Autism Career Training bridges gap between school and the workforce

BY HANNAH HERNER

Spencer works bagging groceries at Publix, and recently learned to sanitize the carts. When asked about it, he gives some short responses aloud, and uses a speaking touch screen device to fill in the gaps. One day, he hopes to be a barista at Starbucks.

Autism Career Training looks to help him reach that goal. The center, which opened in October in Franklin, seeks to fill a gap with young adults with autism. They age out of the traditional school system at 22, and may not yet have the skills they need to enter the workforce.

Curriculum focuses on six domains — academic, communication, behavioral, intellectual, social and emotional — personalized for each trainee. Program director Matthew Powell says they suss out what the person needs as far as accommodations and technology to help them complete tasks independently, not only in a work setting, but at home, too.

“Independent living could look like living at home with your parents, but being able to do the majority of things for yourself,” Powell says. The school day program runs 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and there’s a social skills group 3:30-5 p.m., plus one Saturday a month. The social group is one of Spencer’s favorite parts, along with getting outside and cooking. He said the hardest part is Teach Town, a computer software that walks students through the steps of doing tasks such as making a bed, first with assistance and eventually without prompting.

Powell says a key piece of the program is also working with employers to find jobs that will fit well with trainees.

“The second piece of [the program] is working with employers and educating the employer on how to employ young adults with autism and what those acceptable accommodations are and what that might look like, in the job atmosphere.” Powell says.

He says there’s quite a bit of debate around what category autism falls into. Some people think that it falls under mental health, and some people think it falls under intellectual disabilities. He likes to remind people that if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve just met one person with autism. It manifests in many different ways.

“They’re all so vastly different, that you have to really individualize that program for that one individual student,” Powell says. “I think it’s kind of the biggest thing, that there’s not a mold that they fit into. They’re all vastly, vastly different. But I think what sets us apart a little bit differently than some other agencies is, since we only have young adults with autism, then we’re able to meet some of those social and sensory needs that are typically associated with autism.”

The center does not have grants or scholarships to offset the price at this time, and the cost varies based on the type of services offered and the amount of time spent at the center.

Just as autism can look a lot of different ways, success can look a lot of ways for the students of Autism Career Training.

“I don’t want to just place them in a job that might or might not work out, I want them to have something that they can continue to do, and have that career success and be a part of the community, either through that employment or the community that they live in,” Powell says.