Maine Autism Institute Gets Additional Funds from Department of Education
The Maine Autism Institute for Research and Education at the University of Maine will receive more than $150,000 from the Maine Department of Education to continue its work as the state’s first autism institute, according to a Maine DOE news release.
The funds are in addition to the $209,802 the department and UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development contributed to open the institute in 2014.
Autism is a developmental disability with varying degrees of severity that affects a person’s ability to communicate, to reason and to interact with others. An estimated 1 in 68 children is now being diagnosed with autism. The new funding will further the institute’s initial efforts to build statewide capacity to improve outcomes for young Mainers with autism, the release states.
Much of the funding will be used to expand training in evidence-based practices for teams from Maine school districts to help increase the academic and social success for autistic students.
The full Maine DOE release is online.