WASHINGTON, July 12 -- Nigeria native Akunna Elegalam lays an array of awards on her coffee table in her Fort Totten, Washington, D.C. home. Her autistic son, Ibe, explains some of his awards through short, gasping breaths of barely audible phrases. Most Improved in Mathematics. Exceptional Student in 3D Modeling and Animation. It takes Ibe awhile to get through the stack, but his mother waits patiently.

Ibe Elegalam is one of thousands of young adults in the greater D.C. area with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The varying degrees of autism affect a person’s social interaction, communication and behavior. *In the past decade, the rate of autism has risen steeply, from one in 2,500 children to one in 110 children,* according to the "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)":http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/index.html.

Despite the millions of dollars that goes into autism research every year, the source of autism is both unclear and controversial. Families struggle to support their children with autism, particularly in helping them succeed in their transition into adulthood.

Yet 20-year-old Ibe Elegalam is starting his transition quite smoothly. In the past several months, he has graduated from Roosevelt Senior High School, snagged a summer internship at the "Department of Labor":http://www.dol.gov/ and was accepted into "Montgomery College":http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/. He owes his own recent accomplishments to "Project SEARCH":http://www.dol.gov/odep/projectsearchfactsheet.htm, a program created to help students with disabilities learn some of the skills needed to land a competitive job and become independent from their families.

"Project SEARCH":http://www.projectsearch.info/apps/?q=project-search/about-us exists in 150 U.S. sites as well as in England, Australia and Scotland. The program is hosted at a business or organization and combines classroom instruction with three internship rotations throughout the course of a year, co-founder Susie Rutkowski said.

This year, the Department of Labor hosted the program for its first year in the federal government. The Washington, D.C. program started in response to what some consider a shortage of transition programs and a deficiency in "D.C. Public Schools":http://dcps.dc.gov in helping students with disabilities find independence, employment and post-secondary schools.

The increased interest in these options is because “we are seeing the beginning of a bubble of students who were initially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder about 15 years ago,” said Stephanie Martin, president of "College Living Experience":http://www.experiencecle.com/home.aspx, a transition program that helps students with disabilities find an appropriate college.

Most students in D.C. Public School special education programs lack basic skills to help them be more independent or have post-secondary options, said Melanie Smallwood, Project SEARCH program coordinator and liaison to D.C. Public Schools. She added that Project SEARCH is the first successful opportunity in that arena that has happened in years.

The Washington, D.C. program pooled money from the "Department of Disability Services":http://dds.dc.gov/dds/site/default.asp, the Department of Labor and D.C. Public Schools, said Rebecca Salon, a Project SEARCH consultant. This fall, Project SEARCH is expanding to the "Department of Health and Human Services":http://www.hhs.gov/ and the "Department of Education":http://www.ed.gov/.

Dressed in a fully buttoned crisp white shirt, starched black pants, shiny black shoes and a black bowtie, Ibe Elegalam approached the stage of the Department of Labor auditorium to accept his graduation certificate. The young man is the program’s biggest success story, Melanie Smallwood said.

When Ibe Elegalam was at Roosevelt High School, “he was doing nothing,” Melanie Smallwood said. When she asked if Ibe Elegalam could be in Project SEARCH, his family hesitated because he would have to travel by himself via metro to and from the Department of Labor. However, they eventually agreed it would be an opportunity for him to get out of the classroom.

“You don’t know how much he can do until you put him out there,” said Charleston Elegalam, Ibe’s father.

The Washington, D.C. public school system is the most segregated school system in the country, as students with disabilities are segregated into highly restrictive settings with only disabled peers, said Norma Villanueva, from the "D.C. Public Schools Office of Special Education":http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Office+Directory/Office+of+Special+Education. Ibe Elegalam’s mother, Akunna Elegalam, added that the Roosevelt Senior High School special education program offers an unchallenging curriculum.

Even so, Akunna Elegalam said she often cries tears of joy for her son and the new opportunities he has because of Project SEARCH. Like any mother, she wants the best for her son, especially in light of his autism.

“I want Ibe to explore,” she said. “I want him to go into the world and say ‘I’m autistic but I’m not going to stop.’”