HEALTH

Program for adults with autism, focusing on job skills, coming to Ramapo College of NJ

Lindy Washburn
NorthJersey
REED Academy student Mark Nicholas, 21, as part of his onsite job training at Mahwah Bar and Grill in Mahwah, NJ. Mark will be REED Academy's first graduate this June and has been offered a job at Mahwah Bar and Grill after graduation. He will also be among the first participants in REED Next.

A partnership between a Bergen County nonprofit school and Ramapo College will allow young adults with autism to mingle with their college-age peers while learning job skills and pressing ahead with the intensive education they need to maintain social skills.

The project, to open this summer at the public college's Mahwah campus, was announced by the REED Foundation for Autism as new federal research showed New Jersey to have the highest rate of autism in the United States.  

As children with autism mature into adults, they lose the public-education funding that supports intensive, school-based learning to cope with the social, communication and other problems caused by autism. Adults with autism have comparatively few services to help sustain the gains they've achieved. 

Ramapo College in Mahwah will host REED Next, a program for adults with autism run by the REED Foundation for Autism.

The REED Next program at Ramapo is one of several being developed for adults with autism by nonprofit schools founded a generation ago by the parents of children with autism who were dissatisfied with educational opportunities available in public schools. 

Nearly 3 percent of children in New Jersey are diagnosed with autism, according to the most recent data — from 2014 — released this week by the federal Centers for Disease Control. That includes almost 5 percent of boys and more than 1 percent of girls. New Jersey's autism rate jumped by 19 percent in two years and shows no sign of leveling off.    

REED Next intends to provide "continued life experience, education and work opportunities for adults once they've left their school entitlement program," said Jill Nadison, CEO and executive director of the REED Foundation, which is associated with REED Academy in Oakland.  

Ben Hack, 19, is enrolled at REED Academy in Oakland NJ, a private school for individuals with autism. As part of REED’s Structured Learning Experiences Program (SLE), Ben gets onsite job experience at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ with his SLE coordinator, Colin Badini.

The academy, founded in 2003, currently enrolls 40 students through age 21. REED stands for Resources for Effective Educational Development. The school uses the Applied Behavioral Analysis teaching method, a scientifically proven approach to learning for children with autism. 

The program for adults over 21 will be funded through participants' Medicaid benefits and additional philanthropic donations. It will open in August with a handful of participants and gradually expand, with no cap on the ultimate number, Nadison said. 

In January, the Institute for Educational Achievement in New Milford dedicated a new, $6 million facility for adult life skills to help its recent graduates and others continue their education and job training. And the Alpine Learning Group moved its program for adults with autism into a new facility in 2015. 

At Ramapo, the REED program will be housed at The Lodge, a campus gathering spot near several residence halls, where students relax, meet in various clubs and organizations, and can work out at a fitness facility. REED Next participants will have an opportunity to work at campus jobs and use the gym and cafeteria. They won't be isolated, Nadison said.   

"We want the same things for adults [with autism] that we would for our adult children," she said, "to have them be part of the community, integrated into the community, and have vocational opportunities in the community."  

Ben Hack, 19, is enrolled at REED Academy in Oakland NJ, a private school for individuals with autism. As part of REED’s Structured Learning Experiences Program (SLE), Ben gathers his supplies as part of his onsite job experience at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ.

Ramapo already has experience with students on the autism spectrum who are higher-functioning, said Peter Mercer, the college president. This program, slightly larger and more organized, will include students who are not as verbal or socially engaged.

The mission of public education is to develop human potential, Mercer said, and the college intends to "do what we can do to help the [program's participants] reach their full potential." 

REED is also developing a housing program for adults with autism in conjunction with the United Way of Bergen County. Groundbreaking for a residence in Glen Rock to house four people is expected in the next few months, with the program likely to open next spring, Nadison said.   

REED Next is open to any adult with autism. It is not limited to those who have graduated from REED Academy, she said.  

Email: washburn@northjersey.com 

More Autism stories

More:Autism rates in NJ are the highest in the US, have tripled recently

More:Adults with autism learn life and job skills at new facility

More:'Dr. Ruth of the autistic community' Amy Gravino talks love and dating