*L*o*n*n*i*e*

Good for you for pursuing this! I wish we had something like that in my area (Michigan). I'm not a nurse, just a pre-nursing student, so I don't have any words of wisdom for you. For the last four years I have worked at a nearby long-term care facility (for head trauma and brain injury) that has many autistic children. They are so fascinating and each one is so different from the other. Though they have psychologists/therapists that design programs to meet their individual needs (and we, as staff, implement the programs), it would be nice to have a facility nearby that specializes in autism. I think they need more individual attention, rather than having a doctor who doesn't know much about them prescribe them meds that may or may not be suitable. Overall, I think we offer the best long-term care available to the residents, but it would be nice to have some experts.