LEWISTON – Pettingill Elementary School is the Lewiston School Department’s home for a new program for children with serious autism.

This year, Pettingill began to teach three Lewiston students who were at the Margaret Murphy Center for Children with Developmental Disabilities, Principal David Bartlett said.

Plans call for three more Lewiston children now at Margaret Murphy to be taught at Pettingill next year, after hiring one teacher and two education technicians. The intent is to slowly expand the program for more children who before could not be taught in public schools, Bartlett said. Some children with severe autism will continue to need private attention, officials said.

The Pettingill program is a partnership between the Lewiston School Department and the Margaret Murphy Center, which provides educational and behavioral training for children with autism. Its teachers are instructing the class at Pettingill and will train Pettingill teachers this summer.

A district-based program will allow students more access to regular school activities when appropriate and help foster a greater understanding of autism among the Pettingill school community.

According to the Autism Research Institute, autism is a severe developmental disorder. Most autistic children are normal in appearance, but spend their time engaged in puzzling behaviors different from typical children.

The number of children with autism has exploded in recent years, said Michelle Hathaway, director of the Margaret Murphy Center.

When it opened eight years ago, founders expected 10 children the first year. “We had 35,” Hathaway said. The center now has 75 children per year, she said.

Because of the increase in autism, the center can’t meet the need and must help public schools teach children with autism, she said.

In Lewiston there are 55 students identified as having autism. Of those, 40 are in public schools – 26 mainstreamed in classrooms and 14 in self-contained classrooms. The remaining 15 have more serious autism; 13 are at the Margaret Murphy Center and two are at other private settings.