The Granite City School District is increasing training for teachers to handle children with autism issues. The number of students with the disability has more than doubled in four years, officials said.

"The most exciting part for me is that their brains work differently, so we get to figure out the way they're thinking," said Kelly Rathbun, of the LaGrange Area Department of Special Education, who led a class about the issue last week at the Granite City Early Childhood Center.

Granite City schools have between 70 and 75 kids with autism spectrum disorders, up from around 30 in 2008. Special Education Supervisor Paula Hubbard said officials have been carefully tracking numbers and developing plans.

"It's increasing at an alarming rate," she said.

Nationally, about one in 110 children have autism, compared to one in 500 in 2000, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show.

The Granite City School District also handles children with autism from Venice and Madison through the Region 1 Special Education Cooperative.

People with autism generally have trouble communicating and interacting socially, sometimes creating a learning disability. An exact cause is unknown.

The training sessions last week focused on learning techniques and incorporating autistic children into classrooms with students who don't have autism. The Illinois Autism Training and Technical Assistance Project based at Illinois State University sponsored the training.

"A lot of this stuff is brand new to me, but more and more students are being included in the regular classroom, so I think programs like this are fantastic," said Karla Schank, a Frohardt Elementary School fourth-grade teacher who attended the training.

Between 40 and 50 students will be able to spend at least part of the day in regular classrooms throughout the district this year. Satellite programs through Fairview Heights-based Illinois Institute for Autism are also in place at Granite City High School, Grigsby Middle School and Mitchell Elementary School. Additionally, students are screened for autism when they enter district early childhood programs.

If caught early enough, children can be taught social and language skills in early childhood programs. That gives them a better chance of learning in the classroom.

"Kids can be very successful. Kids do go to college, and kids do develop job skills and get careers," Rathbun said.

Evan Mitchell, 3, of Granite City, has been at the Early Childhood Center since January, and has improved both behavior and speech, said his mother, Amy Mitchell.

"I just really hope he's able to be mainstreamed," she said. "So he doesn't feel that he's different. So he can have those normal friendships and relationships."

Contact reporter Scott Cousins at 618-344-0264, ext. 113