Autism Education and Research Center Prepares for Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month and one Texas Tech University expert is not only creating awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but she has created a Web database of information and services accessible to people with autism and their families.

Robin Lock is the director of Texas Tech’s Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research. She and her team are dedicated to making reliable information about ASD services readily available to those who need them.

“We are concerned that people do not know where to look for information about Autism and sometimes receive misleading information about institutions that offer services for people with ASD,” Lock said. “There are more than 1,200 services identified on the database so far. This is a really good start.”

They have received funding for the project from the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, Texas Council on Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders and the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

The Web site will launch at the beginning of April, just in time to kick off Autism Awareness Month.

Benefiting the Workforce

Also in the planning stages, the Burkhart Center is building a life-skills program to help adults at the highest functioning end of the autism spectrum become more self-sufficient members of society who can function in a vocational setting.

“We have a twofold approach,” Lock said. “We will train employers to work with people with autism and recognize their characteristics and needs. Then we will provide them with some hands-on material and a support system they can access at the Burkhart Center.”

New Social Skills Curriculum

Simultaneously, at the Burkhart Center, students with autism will complete three semesters of job training and social skills classes to prepare them for the workforce. The first semester encompasses classroom learning, the second provides three months of training on the job, and the third semester focuses on social skills training – one of the hardest objectives for people with autism to conquer.

“We find that people with autism can perform the tasks of the job,” Lock said. “But the social aspects of the job are difficult for them. They don’t understand how to express their needs. That is what we’re working toward improving, and why we have faith that this program will generate positive results.”

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