The Autism Day Program (ADP) “a school within a school” was started in the fall of 2011 to address the needs of those students in elementary school who have severe autism and cognitive impairment along with communication and behavioral issues that cannot be addressed by current autism services available in Chesterfield County Public Schools.  The ADP is housed at Spring Run Elementary school.  There are two teachers, 4 program techs and a program coordinator that work on site.  The program follows a strict format of discrete trial, pivotal response and functional routines from the STAR (Strategies for Teaching based on Autism Research) system.