UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL counseling & school psychology
Photo courtesy of Lexington Herald-Leader/Charles Bertram
UK Autism Researcher
Featured in Herald-Leader
Editor’s Note: Dr. Lisa Ruble was featured in an Oct. 19 Lexington
Herald-Leader news story, reported by Valarie Honeycutt-Spears with
photography by Charles Bertram. Read the Herald-Leader’s report at http://
www.kentucky.com/2014/10/19/3490394_grant-will-allow-uk-researchers.
html?rh=1
UK College of Education co-directors of communication Beth Goins and
Amanda Nelson, in partnership with Jenny Wells of UK Public Relations,
pitched the news story about Ruble’s most recent grant to the Herald-Leader.
The version of the article authored by Nelson appears below.
Melanie Tyner-Wilson is facing one of her toughest battles
yet. She wants nothing more than to help her son Jay TynerWilson, who is autistic, land his first real job.
Public school provided opportunities for Jay to gain
volunteer vocational experience. There, he discovered
he enjoyed working with animals – and school offered a
repetitive, structured and routine environment. But Jay is 21
years old now and aged out of the school system in May.
“The challenge is now finding a job,” says his mother.
“That’s the golden ticket that I’m trying to figure out.”
Jay did not qualify for an official high school diploma,
so the path to college or career is a tricky one. Melanie
laments that many people with disabilities end up living in
poverty unless they have families and other resources that
12
can save and plan for them. With
an ever-increasing number of
students on the autism spectrum
coming through the school
pipeline, questions abound as to
what they can do to build a life for
themselves beyond school.
A new study at the University
of Kentucky College of Education
helps frame the conversation
around this transition. The
National Institute of Mental
Ruble
Health (NIMH) has awarded a
$693,000 grant to UK College of Education professor Lisa
Ruble and a cross-disciplinary team of co-investigators at UK
and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“This funding will allow us to find ways to help reduce
or eliminate the disconnect from needed services that often
occurs when students with Autism Spectrum Disorder
complete school,” Ruble says.
Melanie says her son has multiple skills that would be of
value to an employer, but he would need additional support.
“The powerful thing about this study is that it brings
COE COMMUNICATOR | NOVEMBER 2014