Autistic Kids Learn To Survive, And Thrive, In College
Lowell Austin, an autistic student at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., receives tutoring from Stephanie Hurly at the university's Autism Training Center, one of several college programs highlighted on the website
MELISSA BLOCK, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel.
Colleges and universities these days are grappling with a thorny new challenge. More students than ever before are being diagnosed with autism(孤独症，自闭症). The influx(汇集) is creating a demand for services to help them fit in, graduate and find jobs.
Grace Hood from member station KUNC reports on how these transition programs work.
GRACE HOOD: In many ways, Mark Heim is a typical senior at Colorado State University. His T-shirt has the kind of smart humor you'd expect from someone who excels in computer science, engineering and math.
Mr. MARK HEIM: It says, Department of Redundancy Department.
HOOD: But as a student living with Asperger's syndrome(亚斯伯格症, 一种精神发展疾患, 与自闭症有许多相似之处), which is a high-functioning form of autism, the everyday social interactions of college life can be awkward.
Ms. JANE MOHAR (Peer Mentor): Hi, I'm Jane. Nice to meet you.
Mr. HEIM: Hello, I'm Mark.
Ms. MOHAR: Please have a seat. OK. So when you come in the room, let's try again and we'll have you shake my hand a little bit harder.
HOOD: Today, Heim and his peer mentor(学生辅导员), Jayne Mohar are practicing for an upcoming interview at a software company.
Ms. MOHAR: So, Mark, tell me what you like to do for fun.
Mr. HEIM: I like to read - read books - a lot of technical books. And I like to play chess as well.
HOOD: With more autistic students going to college, universities like Colorado State are adopting programs to ease the transition in and out of school. It's one of the handful across the country right now. For Heim, one focus is how to work in groups with other students.
Mr. HEIM: With Asperger's, it's harder to negotiate the terms of what each person will do and what each person is expected to do.
Ms. CATHY SCHELLY (Director, Center for Community Partnerships): Some people really struggle with a roommate situation if they're living in a dorm.
HOOD: Cathy Schelly is director of this program which the school's occupational therapy here started earlier this year, in part because the campus was seeing more students with autism and Asperger's floundering in class, or not understanding or not understanding appropriate social behavior.
Ms. JANE THIERFELD BROWN (Director of Student Services, University of Connecticut School of Law): I like to talk about it as the inability to hang out.
HOOD: Jane Thierfeld Brown started a program for students with autism and Asperger's at the University of Connecticut. Today she directs student services in the law school.
Ms. BROWN: Now that the numbers have started exploding within the colleges, people are saying this has to be the big end of the numbers.
HOOD: In fact, colleges will see even more kids with autism in the coming years. That's because autism prevalence rates have gone from one in every 2,000 children before 1990 to an average of one in 110 today.
Thierfeld Brown says a key part of working with this population is developing kids' interests. She points to one example in Tennessee of a student who thrived as a water boy for his high school hockey(曲棍球) team.
Mr. BROWN: They never had someone charting their intake of fluids before, but it made him a part of this very popular hockey team at this high school.
HOOD: The so-called water management consultant was a success story, she says, because he turned a difference into a strength. Boston University Disability Services director Lorraine Wolf says that connects to the ultimate goal -finding kids jobs.
Ms. LORRAINE WOLF (Office of Disability Services Director, Boston University): We want our college students to work while they're in college, to have a work-study position so that when they graduate they have those soft skills that are really what employers are looking for.
HOOD: Wolf and Thierfeld Brown who both have kids who are autistic started the Website C to counsel other parents and universities.
(Soundbite of knock on door)
Ms. MOHAR: OK, come on in. Hi, Mark. Nice to meet you. I'm Jayne.
Mr. HEIM: Hello, Jayne. I'm Mark.
Ms. MOHAR: Oh, that was much better. That was much better.
HOOD: For his part, Colorado State University student Mark Heim hopes his prospective employer will see beyond his diagnosis to what he has to offer: a passion for computer science, math and engineering; a clever sense of humor; and a really firm handshake.
For NPR News, I'm Grace Hood.
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