Sheryl Rich-Kern

Electropac, a firm that makes printed circuit boards in New Hampshire, once had 500 paid employees. Today, it has 34. But thanks to a state program for the unemployed, it also now offers unpaid internships.

Across the country, unpaid internships are on the rise for older adults looking to change careers or rebound from layoffs. In New Hampshire, a state-run program encourages the unemployed to take six-week internships at companies with the hope of getting a permanent job.

In New Hampshire, close to 600 people have already interned at 275 companies in what's called the Return to Work program. The state says more than 60 percent of the interns received jobs offers at the companies where they trained.

Hiring As A Gamble

Most people agree that good teachers help students succeed.
But how do good teachers learn to be effective?

One D.C.-based, private nonprofit is asking just that. They want colleges to participate in a study that ranks teacher preparation programs.

Some sectors of the New Hampshire economy are taking longer to rebound from the recession.

Particularly industries that rely on discretionary income, like many of the 20 small airports in the state.

Nashua’s Municipal Airport is one of the state’s oldest and busiest.

But it’s been years since this airport operated to its capacity.

Now a new $16 million construction project may give the airport the economic lift it needs.

It’s a cold, but sunny December morning at the Nashua Municipal Airport, also known as Boire Field.

Under clear blue skies, it’s a perfect day for flying.

In contrast to the jarring rev of engines you might expect to hear at an airport, the 400-acre Boire Field is eerily calm.

It’s that time of the year when the days are getting shorter and the retail hours are getting longer.

And while year-round merchants are gearing up for the holiday season, pop-up stores, like the many Halloween outlets, are cropping up alongside them — and then shutting their doors one or two months later.

These temporary stores may sound like a fad, but pop-up stores reflect a growing trend in the retail sector.

You see one in almost every large mall in New Hampshire:

A Halloween store that sells friendly and flashy costumes, not to mention spooky décor and special effects.

Patricia Harris manages the Halloween Superstore in the Pheasant Lane mall in Nashua.

Mackenzie is a young adult with autism. She is finishing her senior year at Pelham High School and plans to attend college next year. She is also an artist and is considering pursuing a career as a teacher. She and her mother, Deborah, talk with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern, addressing the following questions:

Explain how you worked with a counselor at UNH? What steps do you take? What are your expectations?

Mackenzie - what do you see yourself doing after college?

Mackenzie is a young adult with autism. She is finishing her senior year at Pelham High School and plans to attend college next year. She is also an artist and is considering pursuing a career as a teacher. She and her mother, Deborah, talk with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern, addressing the following questions:

What prompted you to have Mackenzie evaluated? When did you receive a diagnosis? What was your reaction?

Mackenzie - Were you aware you were different?

Under federal law, students with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education. That means they can receive the supports they need up until they turn 21.

After that, many of these young adults aren’t ready to live on their own, find jobs or go on to college.

NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern has the story as part of her series, Challenges of Autism.

Mackenzie Trippier is talking to her parents about going to Greece with the seniors at Pelham High.

Deborah Trippier: "So what do you think about going to Greece?"

Mackenzie Trippier: "Definitely, I really want to go."

Deborah. "Pretty far away."

Mackenzie: "Yeah."

This week, NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern has been looking into the challenges schools face when teaching children with autism.

The parents obviously face challenges too. Providing the therapy some children need costs a lot of money and time. But come January 1st, relief is on the way. 

In our week-long series Challenges of Autism, NHPR correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern looks into the new legislation.

The standard treatment for autism when kids are young is something called applied behavior analysis or ABA.

Doctors recommend at least 25 hours of it a week. But autism specialist Dr. Stephen Mott at Dartmouth-Hitchcock says most kids don’t get that.

Kirsten Murphy is the administrative director of the New Hampshire Council on Autism Spectrum Disorders. She was a key advocate behind the passage of Connor’s Law, a mandate that goes into effective January 1, 2011. The new law will require health insurance companies to cover therapies for children with autism. Murphy is also the mother of two teenage boys diagnosed with autism. She talks with NHPR's Sheryl Rich Kern to answer the following questions:

Who are the families that were depending on Connor’s Law the most and how will they benefit?

What are some of the challenges enforcing this law?

What are some of the difficulties young adults with autism face in the workforce?

These days it’s not rare to find a child with severe autism actively participating in a public school. A generation ago, parents would have sent those kids to a private school or maybe institutionalized them.

But studies show kids with autism improve in a regular public school. There they are able to socialize and learn how to communicate better because they’re copying the other children.

But not everyone agrees this approach is good for all students.

In our ongoing series Challenges of Autism, NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern has this report.

(sound of teachers singing in a nursery rhyme tune) “Olivia, Emma and Lily are ready…"