School for Students with Autism Celebrates First Graduate

Happy Graduation, AJ!

PHILADELPHIA-Overwhelming odds can be just the right trigger for success.

Joanne Corless said she proved that to herself and her family after her son was diagnosed with a severe form of autism before he was 3.

A doctor told the family that they should put AJ in an institution because there was no way he would be able to function normally. Corless couldn’t believe that. She said she found instructors who could work with kids with autism and founded the AJ Corless Foundation for Children with Autism. She later went on to open the Comprehensive Learning Center, a nonprofit private school for kids with autism.

After going through a yearlong approval process with the state Department of Education, the licensed private academic school opened in September 2000 in Holland. It moved to Upper Southampton about two years ago. The pre-k to high school facility has 24 students. The facility is funded through tuition, fundraising, private donations and grants.

Now age 21, AJ was in cap and gown Tuesday to get his diploma as the school’s first and only graduate. He plays the piano and works two part-time jobs. Soft-spoken, yet confident, AJ said he’s about to start a third job this summer.

Who Will Care for Dana?

Nice job by Parade magazine for highlighting the issue of young adults with autism who are aging out of education services at 21. Transitioning from a system of "entitlement" (such as guaranteed education for children with special needs)to a system of "eligibility" (adult services, including day and employment programs) is a major struggle for so many families and an issue that certainly deserves more media attention.

In many ways, Dana Eisman, 20, of Potomac, Md., is like any other young adult. She rocks out to Train, adores Glee, and eats pizza every week. And this June, like many of her peers, she’ll leave school and join the real world.
But for Dana—and her parents, Beth, who works in a doctor's office, and Rob, a business owner—that prospect is terrifying. "I want to celebrate," Beth says, "but what I feel is a knife in my heart."
That's because Dana is autistic. She can't hold a conversation, make eye contact, verbalize her thoughts, cross the street alone, or control herself when she's upset. Starting when she was 4—thanks to a federal law that guarantees disabled children an appropriate education—she has spent her weekdays at Ivymount, a private school for special-needs students that she loves and that has been paid for by the state and county. But because Dana turns 21 this week, that support will dry up when the school year ends, leaving her parents to agonize about the quality of life their daughter is facing.

Capturing Beauty of Cherry Blossomos

OK, it's raining and we're expecting snow in the northeast, so I thought you might enjoy this. Be sure to visit the Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children site (link below) for more photos and info on the photographers.


WASHINGTON,D.C. - A group of four photographers with autism captured the beauty of the cherry blossoms and will be auctioning off their work to commemorate National Autism Awareness Month.
The photographers, Brian, James, Matt and Jimmie, all took pictures on the tidal basin using their Nikon Coolpix L18 cameras on Monday. They are all clients of Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children (CSAAC) located in Montgomery Village, Md., one of the oldest and largest autism services providers in the nation.