News Brief: Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, and Henrico County Public Schools received a federally funded, five-year, $2.5 million grant to boost research on how to help young adults with autism enter the workforce upon graduation from high school.

According to VCU, close to 90 percent of young adults with autism are unemployed. The Virginia-based groups found success with a nine-month internship program for young adults with autism. Through the internship, nearly 88 percent of the program’s participants secured competitive employment. The groups hope to use the grant to explore their internship model with larger numbers of autistic youth and to determine if the internships can improve social and cognitive behaviors.

Autism Profile

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