Autism Services Center

Ruth C. Sullivan founded ASC in 1979 after serving as the co-founder and first president of the Autism Society of America.^[1][2][3] The organization was initially founded as a local referral service,^[4] and in 1981 provided telephone-based technical assistance and case management to caregivers and professionals.^[5] Sullivan sought to provide an alternative to state-run institutional care for autistic people, and the center opened the first group homes for autistic people in the state.^[6] In 1983, the organization took on their first client, a 12-year-old girl, who the state institutions found unmanageable.^[4] By 2009, the organization had grown to have 400 employees treating 260 clients and is one of the largest employers in Huntington.^[4]

Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man, Raymond Babbitt, was heavily influenced by Joseph Sullivan, a patient of ASC and the son of Ruth C. Sullivan.^{[7][self-published source][8]} In 1988, the premiere of Rain Man was held in Huntington, with some proceeds going to ASC; the organization used the funds to buy a group home.^[3]

In 2025, ASC opened an applied behavior analysis therapy center in St. Albans, West Virginia.^[9]

For patients, the center provides physical therapy, speech therapy, and applied behavior analysis,^[10] in addition to supported employment and a limited residential program for adults who are unable to live independently.^[4]

The center provides training and education for caregivers and professionals, and sometimes receives visitors from across the United States.^[4] In 2016, two Argentinian caregivers of autistic children spent a week in Huntington to learn about its residential program in the hopes of replicating it in Argentina.^[11]

• Official website
• "Autism Services Center". Internal Revenue Service filings. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.