Educational Services
The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism
The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism is a joint venture between St. Joseph’s Villa and Commonwealth Autism Service. The Villa and Commonwealth Autism have been working together for several years, and in November 2006 opened The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism as a joint venture.
The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism prepares students with autism for the fullest possible life as adults. The Center’s emphasis is on teaching students vocational and life skills so that, as adults, they can have the greatest degree of self-sufficiency and self-esteem possible.
The staff at The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism uses Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) to teach the students. In addition, several rooms at the Center are set up to present the living arrangements and social settings students will experience in the world away from school; the Center includes a bedroom, an office, a leisure area and a room with a washer and dryer. These rooms help students learn the “everyday” skills they will need as adults.
Students are placed into The Sarah Dooley Center by their local school systems. Students attending the Center come from the city of Richmond and all major localities in the central Virginia region.
For a detailed fact sheet on The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism, please click here.
For current rates, please click here.
To visit The Sarah Dooley Center for Autism website, please click here.
To visit the Commonwealth Autism Service website, please click here.
