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OAR News

Join OAR for Sexuality Education Webinar

OAR will be hosting a free webinar on the topic of sexuality on Monday, October 15, at 2:00 p.m. ET featuring Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., OAR Scientific Council chairman and executive director of the EPIC School (Paramus, NJ), and Amy Gravino, M.A., president of A.S.C.O.T. Consulting. They will provide an overview of the many challenges associated…

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Graduate Grant Proposals Invited

Beginning Monday, September 17, OAR invites graduate students to submit research proposals for its annual Graduate Research Grant Program. Since the program was established in 2004, OAR has awarded over $249,600 in grants to fund 138 graduate research studies. Last year, OAR made grants to 11 students with grant awards totaling $21,000. OAR hopes to build on…

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Interns Wrap Up Their Work

Sasha Grossman started her internship with OAR’s Hire Autism initiative at the end of May. She headed back to Virginia Tech in mid-August where she is a sophomore majoring in political science and minoring in Spanish. Having volunteered with the Best Buddies program throughout high school and being involved in Special Olympics, she explains that…

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2018 Scholarship Winners Announced

OAR takes great pleasure in announcing the recipients of the Lisa Higgins Hussman Scholarship and Schwallie Family Scholarship for 2018. The two scholarships attracted over 500 applicants and the 49 awards total $147,000. Through this program, OAR has now provided scholarships to 318 students with autism – a total financial contribution of $954,000 since the…

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Registration for OAR Webinar on Sexuality Now Open

Event Title: Sexuality on the Spectrum Presenter: Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D. and Amy Gravino, M.A. Date: Monday, October 15, 2018 at 2:00 PM ET Register Now OAR will be hosting a free webinar on the topic of sexuality, sexuality education, and relationships on October 15 at 2:00 PM ET featuring Peter Gerhardt, Ed.D., OAR Scientific Council chairman and executive…

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Hire Autism Now on Facebook

OAR invites you to check out the new Hire Autism Facebook page. As a follower or “fan” of the Facebook page, you will be able to communicate with us and keep up-to-date on all things Hire Autism-related. Through the page, OAR will share employment-related tips for individuals with autism, new job openings, business partner highlights,…

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Summer Interns Have Arrived

Lindsey Siff and Alyssa Grzesiak recently joined OAR for summer internships. Both will be working at OAR until mid-August. Siff was motivated to do her internship at OAR because several of her family members have been diagnosed with autism. Grzesiak looks forward to expanding her knowledge about autism generally and more specifically about the resources…

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New Hire Autism Manager Is on the Job

Meet Amanda Rioux, OAR’s new Hire Autism manager. She started the job on May 22 and dove right in by meeting one of the successful hires at a business partner site within weeks of being hired. That meeting exemplifies what excites her most about her position: directly connecting individuals with autism to meaningful employment opportunities…

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Number of Scholarships at All-Time High

Next month, OAR will award an all-time high of 50 scholarships to students with autism pursuing higher education, an increase of 11 over last year. This year’s awards have been made possible through the continued generosity of the Lisa Higgins Hussman Foundation, increased support from the Schwallie Family Foundation, and the amazing efforts of a…

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Naina Chernoff Receives Community Award

At its 40th annual meeting on May 30, the officers and Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Northern Virginia awarded the Eleanor Sue Finkelstein Award for Special Needs to Naina Chernoff, a Hire Autism associate as well as long-time OAR supporter and volunteer. The Eleanor Sue Finkelstein Award for Special Needs…

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