The Mighty Logo

Rutgers University Debuts First-of-its-Kind Program for Adults With Autism

The most helpful emails in health
Browse our free newsletters

Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, announced Wednesday its plans for the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services (RCAAS). To be located in two buildings on the university’s Douglass Campus, the center will offer university jobs to up to 60 adults with autism who are living off campus. A clinical staff and graduate students will be there for support.

Phase two of the project will offer a pilot residential program for 20 adults with autism who will work on campus and live with Rutgers graduate students in an integrated apartment-style residence.

“There is no other program like this at any other university,” Mary Chrow, Associate Dean for Advancement at the Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, told The Mighty. “This comprehensive residential facility, with a day program facility where we’re training our undergraduate and graduate students how to work with adults with autism, is the first of it’s kind.”

The program is potentially a solution to the dual problems of lack of services for adults with autism after they age out of the school system and lack of professionals with adequate experience and training to work with them. Rutgers intends to demonstrate how educational institutions can become part of the answer to these problems.

“I think what’s particularly unique is the training,” Chrow told The Mighty. “We think we’re going to train at least 50 undergraduate and graduate students a year, from all disciplines — education, social work, psychology and across multiple disciplines to develop expertise in working with adults with autism.”

Chrow says there is also potential for this model to be used for people with all kinds of developmental disabilities, not just autism. Plans to open the first phase of the center are set for fall of 2018, after a few years of fundraising. The project will be completely privately funded and cost a total of $35 million.

“We’d love to see other universities also take a look at what we’re doing and replicate it or work with us,” Chrow said. “We see potential in university campuses as a way to train and educate the next generation of professionals, but also to provide jobs for adults with autism who are under-served and underemployed in our society.”

 Get more on the program from the video below:

Originally published: November 4, 2015
Want more of The Mighty?
You can find even more stories on our Home page. There, you’ll also find thoughts and questions by our community.
Take Me Home