LIVINGSTON

— U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, visiting a new daily program for adults with autism, today called for expanded federal financing for such services.

Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who has been an outspoken advocate for autism assistance, said the program he visited, the Center for Independence, could provide a national model. But that is unlikely to happen without some government assistance, he said.

“I am reaching out to Republican colleagues because we’re going to need bipartisan support to accomplish something like this,” he said after touring the facilities, run by the 50-year-old Children’s Institute. “I’m reaching out to Republican colleagues to get a sense of how far they’re willing to go so that I can ascertain, well, what level of federal support can there be?”

The new program, which opened in October, currently serves nine clients, all of whom are older than 21, but is expected to expand to 30 or more in the coming year, according to Bruce Ettinger, the long-time executive director of the Children’s Institute, which also runs a high school at its Livingston location.

The program provides a place for those with autism to continue to learn vocational, life, personal and social skills, Ettinger said. It also includes several actual businesses where clients have been working, he said.

The need for programs to serve adults is a new one as autism rates have increased drastically over the years. A federal government study released last month found a significant increase in the prevalence of autism, bringing the rest of the nation in line with what New Jersey has seen for years.

The report, written by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found the disease, now known as autism spectrum disorder, affects 1 in 50 children, well above the 1 in 88 number that had been used by the CDC, and three times the rate the agency had found a decade ago.

For Brice Russell, a board member whose son Ethan attended the institute’s high school, the new adult program came too late. Ethan, now 20, was not ready for employments when he left high school. Faced with the prospect of having nothing to do, he move to Kentucky to find a program he could attend as an adult.

“All of us go through the same thing,” the father said of his fellow parents. “You plan your life, and then all of a sudden you say, ‘what’s going to happen when they turn 21?’ They’re given back to you. Now what?”

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