Funded Projects

Autism Awareness in Rural Juvenile Justice

Project Year

2022

City & State

Statesboro, Georgia

Program Name

CATCH Implementation

Topic

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Program Description

THE PROBLEM: Autism effects 1 in 59 children in the state of Georgia , yet the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice receives little to no training on how to communicate with children with autism, leaving the workers in the system frustrated and the children underserved. According to a study published by the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, people with autism spectrum disorder are 7 times more likely to involved with the criminal justice system. The Bulloch County Department of Juvenile Justice has recognized a need within their system for a better understanding of autism, as children affected by autism are commonly seen within the juvenile justice system. Workers have limited understanding of autism and resources to serve children on the spectrum. “The underlying idea of everything we do is ‘the best interest of the child,’” - Michael Tucker, program manager at Bulloch County Department of Juvenile Justice. THE PRIMARY SETTING: The primary setting for this project is county Department of Juvenile Justice offices in rural south Georgia. THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN AFFECTED: We know that there are currently 135 justice involved youth in Bulloch County right now, and more than 10,000 in Georgia as a whole. With the rate of autism in Georgia, and the rate at which children are not being diagnosed in the area, we know that there are several cases of children being involved with the Department of Juvenile Justice as a last resort for their autism behaviors. In Bulloch County alone, we know that the rate of autism is severely underdiagnosed. Based on local data, Dr. Zeanah estimates that at least 50% of children with autism in rural southern Georgia are undiagnosed and untreated. PROPOSED INTERVENTION: Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center will work with probation officers within the Department of Juvenile Justice to provide autism skills training which can be directly applied to the cases they are working. This will help serve children with autism in the juvenile justice system more effectively. Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center will provide a 2-hour training. It will include a Q&A portion so that participants can address their specific concerns about current cases. ANTICIPATED OUTCOME: The primary intended outcome for this training program is facilitate achievable probation to reduce the number of youths who become incarcerated. Another anticipated outcome of this program is recognition of autism and autism features among youth currently involved in Department of Juvenile Justice by its officers. DJJ staff often work with families to address mental health concerns and we would like these specific autism informed practiced to implemented into that system: • Recognize features of autism spectrum disorder • Increased understanding of autism behaviors • Creation of autism-informed probation goals to increase likelihood of successful probation • Referral to appropriate local autism spectrum disorder community services We believe that by training the probation officers we can achieve this outcome. Juvenile justice probation officers are directly responsible for handling a justice involved youths’ case through their probation. This training will develop applicable skills in cases with children with ASD or who display traits of ASD. Our training will emphasize the following learning objectives: • Dispelling commonly believed myths about autism spectrum disorder • Recognizing indicators of autism • Providing effective and practical communication strategies • Providing available reference resources • Providing information about heritability and effectively communicating with parents who are more likely to have autism The ultimate goal of this program is to reduce incarceration and recidivism among youths with ASD. After the training session, we expect that officers will be able to immediately apply the provided information and strategies to their job, thus improving the experience of both the officers and the justice involved youths.

Project Goal

To reduce incarceration and recidivism among youths with autism.

Project Objective 1

Complete the development of a virtual 2-hour autism awareness training for Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice probation officers by August 15th, 2022.

Project Objective 2

Juvenile probation officers who complete our trainings will identify 5 effective strategies for communication with individuals on the autism spectrum and recognize 5 indicators of autism (based on the DSM-5 criteria) as evidenced by their answers on the POST test administered at conclusion of the training

Project Objective 3

Offer autism awareness training to Department of Juvenile Justice probation officers and supervisors in at least 1/3 of Georgia’s 159 counties with a focus on rural South Georgia.

AAP District

District X

Institutional Name

Behavioral Pediatrics Resource Center

Contact 1

Michelle Zeanah