The reaction comes following a report in the Daily Tribune News, a Cincinnati-based publication, which details a new project designed to help students with special needs make the transition from school life to the working world.

An initiative that started over twenty years ago in Cincinnati’s Children’ Hospital Medical Centre, Project Search has been the recipient of widespread acclaim for the valuable work they have put into the special needs community in the state. With very few resources available for parents and carers to help their children into work, the work that the project does is seen as an invaluable step for students coming towards the end of their time in school.

Through the providing of on-the-job training at the Medical Centre, special needs students – or interns, as they are referred to – are able to develop a number of transferrable skills with an aim to gain employment by the time they graduate. An emphasis on helping students become more independent is at the heart of the project, providing them with confidence in their ability to thrive in today’s society.

Numerous staff members from around the hospital who have worked with the interns have nothing but praise for the initiative and the work done by the students themselves. Kathlene Coleman, Director of Perinatal Services, said she and her employees “thoroughly enjoy working with the Project Search students and seeing them grow into productive young adults.” Processing Supervisor Josh Turner was equally positive, stating that “Working with the Project Search interns has been such an amazing experience. I have had two girls out of the class so far, and both have made a lasting impression on me.”