STEUBENVILLE - Ben Bailey of Yorkville said he feels a lot more secure about his autistic son going to the Jefferson Regional Spectrum Center, as compared to a public school.

The Jefferson Regional Spectrum Center is a joint effort among the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Jefferson County Educational Service Center and the Buckeye, Edison and Indian Creek local and Toronto, Steubenville and Harrison Hills city school districts.

Bailey said the Buckeye Local School District, through no fault of its own, didn't have the programs to help his son.

The school districts now are struggling to fill the special educational needs of students who are diagnosed with moderate to severe autism, and some parents are sending children outside the county for services, according to officials.

Michael Mehalik, county Developmental Disabilities superintendent, said the Spectrum Center, which officially opened Thursday, will consist of three units with eight students.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others, according to the Autism Society of America. Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviors and is a "spectrum disorder" that affects individuals differently and to varying degrees.

Bailey said autism is a complex disorder that requires a lot of therapy and intervention.

The county's Developmental Disabilities program will operate the Spectrum Center with funding from the school districts and the Ohio Department of Education. The staff will meet the certification standards set by the Ohio Department of Education, and bus transportation for Jefferson County students will be provided by the county Developmental Disabilities program. Harrison Hills will bus its students, officials noted.

Mehalik said a contract has been entered into with the Watson Institute of Sewickly, Pa., to serve as consultants for the project. The Watson Institute has been providing services to students with autism for many years and is a nationally recognized expert in the field, Mehalik said.

Jeff Oblak, Jefferson County Educational Services Center director of special education, said most of the children in the county with autism are in a multi-handicap classrooms or being served at for-profit facilities outside the county. He said the five local superintendents expressed to the ESC a need for students with autism. The ESC then contacted the county's Developmental Disabilities program about six months ago about developing a centralized autism program.

"When we started down this road, I made it clear to the superintendents if we do it, we have to do it right," Mehalik said. "The superintendents agreed and we moved forward."

John Martin, Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities director, said the chance of a child having autism 30 years ago was one in 1,500. Today that number is one in 100.

"We need to lessen the impact of autism on a person. We need early intervention," he said.

(Law can be contacted at mlaw@heraldstaronline.com.)