A College Education for Individuals with Autism

A Personal Experience
Guiding any offspring through the college selection process is a difficult
and sensitive process. Some children, whether neuro-typical or
differently-abled, know from an early age the college they want to
attend. Others may not know which school they want to attend, but
they do know what they want to study. We try to help our offspring
discover their options and then a choice is made. There is no guarantee
for any individual that the college they choose or perhaps the college
that chooses them will be one at which they have a positive experience.
However, the probability for success is greater when careful planning is
done.
In the case of exceptional children who have the potential to attend
college, many factors must be considered as we, their parents and
trusted mentors, try to assist them in college selection. When the
picture is further complicated by the college-bound person having
autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS) or PDD/NOS, special considerations
must take place.
To my knowledge, even those colleges with excellent adjunct programs
designed to train teachers and other professionals, or to inform the
public concerning autism and/or AS do not have a college program
appropriately designed to support students with autism who attend
their institutions. Most of these advanced individuals whom I know that
have attended college went without the help of such a program.
The problem with services currently available for differently-abled
people that already exist at many colleges is that they are geared either
for people who are physically disabled or for people with learning

disabilities. The programs that are designed for people with learning
disabilities provide help with academic or social problems only when
the person with the disability approaches them and asks for help. Most
of our loved ones with autism or AS (Asperger Syndrome) dont know
that they need help in a subject or situation until things are at a crisis.
Even at the time of a crisis some either wont or cant get themselves to
a counselor to get the help they need. For those whose academic needs
are met, appropriate social support systems do not exist. Therefore,
most families I have known who have tried to use a learning disabilities
program for a person with Aspergers or autism have had poor results.
In our familys case, we chose a college for our daughter using four
basic criteria: (1) which colleges would accept her (despite her excellent
intelligence, she had done badly on the SATs); (2) size of the college;
(3) proximity to our home; and (4) attitude of admissions and guidance
counselors. Our two best choices were a large state university located
about 3 and hours from our home and a small private college located
about 40 minutes from our home. I knew the director of a resource
center on autism, which was affiliated with the large state university.
She had said she would try to help us with admissions and setting up
some support there. Although the size of the university was somewhat
intimidating (35,000 students), it would offer her a vast array of course
options.
Our daughter is very talented in learning foreign languages, so we
thought she could major in foreign languages there. However, we were
concerned for her safety in navigating such a huge campus. The
admissions person we dealt with seemed very helpful and willing to try
to set up some special services. Our greatest concern other than
transportation problems was that Beth might be placed in their learning
disabilities program instead of designing a special program to meet her
needs.

The private college was very small (only 900 students). Although they
had no foreign language major there and only offered three languages,
we thought that our daughter could major in music (another one of her
excellent talents) and minor in foreign language. The campus was easy
for her to navigate and we felt that it would be easier to set up a peer
support system for her there. We were treated in a friendly and open
manner by their admissions and guidance people. To their knowledge,
they had never educated a person with autism or AS before. We felt
this was a distinct advantage, as they would have few preconceived
notions about her challenges. They were willing to learn about her
special needs, but had some concerns about whether she would make
it academically in all of the liberal arts courses required for graduation.
However, if she couldnt make grades in all of the required courses,
they would give her an associates degree instead of a bachelors. I am
happy to report that she DID pass all required courses and graduated in
four years with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Music.
We are very proud of her accomplishments, but to say that it wasnt
easy is a great understatement! I spent countless hours explaining our
daughter and her needs to administration, teachers and peers. Setting
up and maintaining a list of social and academic peer tutors was a
constant drain on time, finances and nerves. We were fortunate to
know a young woman from our town who had tutored our daughter in
high school. She was very helpful in introducing us to students who
wanted to help.
Our daughter lived in a dorm on campus, just like everyone else.
However, she did have a private room because we felt she needed
somewhere that she could be alone and let down when she was
stressed. Also, we didnt think she needed to adjust to a roommate and
college all at the same time.

She did well and was kindly received by most students and faculty.
There were always a few exceptions, but overall, it was a tremendous
growth experience for her both socially and academically. The key to
her social acceptance was (in my opinion) largely due to the fact that
the first peer mentor we found made a total commitment to helping
her adjust, and was one of the brightest and best-liked students at the
school. This is the young woman from our town, whom I mentioned
previously. She was captain of the tennis team, an honor society
student, and liked by almost everyone at the school. The fact that she
was very pretty didnt hurt her popularity either! Basically, she included
our daughter in most, if not all, of her social activities. She arranged
with the tennis coach for her to be one of the team managers. She
explained our daughters challenges to the coach, so her duties as
manager were geared down to mostly giving out towels and tennis
balls. Everyone on the team appreciated her loyalty and her unflagging
enthusiasm. She earned a Tennis Team jacket and a school athletic
letter. She was proud and truly thrilled.
Also, whenever this young woman was invited to a party, she asked if
our daughter could come. Much to her credit, if people said no, she
didnt go either. We didnt ask her to do this- it was her own idea. She
basically put out the message, if you like me, Im sure youll like my
friend. She also helped in finding other volunteers to tutor our
daughter academically and to fill her own place as primary mentor
when she graduated. She was a senior when our daughter was a
freshman, so we only had her there for one year.
We never compensated this young woman with money. What we did in
her case was lend her one of our cars to drive in exchange for her help.
She didnt have a car, so this was quite useful to her. We found that in
most cases, compensating peer academic tutorswith money was fine,
but compensating peer social mentors with money ruined the

relationship both theirs with our daughter and theirs with us. So we
did other things like arranging with professors to give course credits
(partial only), helping with papers and information related to autism,
and generally encouraging and listening to these young men and
women not just about our daughter, but about life in general. We had
a few negative experiences along the way, but for the most part these
people were very helpful. We had to use several people in this capacity
each semester, as their time commitments had to be limited, due to
their own study and social needs. None of them was ever as close a
friend as her first peer mentor. I dont know if it was how we arranged
things or just that this first per mentor was very unique. All of our
daughters tutors truly cared about her and wanted to help. However,
most were rather casual friends. Only two other than her original peer
mentors remained friends.
One other student became close friends with our daughter, but she
transferred out after freshman year. She is still in contact with our
daughter, having her sing at her wedding.
A month after our daughter graduated from college, she entered
graduate school, and completed her Master of Arts in Church Music
and Liturgy in July of 2000 at the same college. The friends she has
made there are ones she acquired all on our own. This is a testament
to her maturity and how much she has grown in social skills. Life
remains good for her and for us. I hope that a college experience will be
possible for many more individuals with autism and AS in the future.
Personal Reflections
Preparing and carrying out our daughters college plans was at times
terrifying, both to her and to us. We wanted her to have this experience
and the freedom to grow as an individual. However, we knew how
nave and vulnerable she was. Our daughter wanted to leave home and

have the college experiences she had heard about from others.
However, she had never been away from home or us for more than a
few days.
On the way back from leaving her at the college, I said to my husband,
What do we think were doing! She cant survive without us! I cant
believe I ever made this ridiculous plan! It took all of the strength and
faith we could muster not to turn around and bring her home with us.
Her peer mentor said that after we pulled away in the car, our daughter
turned to her and said, What will I do without my parents? I dont
know what to do now! This woman said she had a look of sheer panic
in her eyes. She hugged our daughter and said, Lets go for a walk and
talk about it. Although we each had our rocky times after that, I can
truly state that the first day or two were the worst. Our daughter was
caught up in a whirlwind of Freshman orientation, and we began to
realize that she actually might not die without us.
My advice to other parents trying to decide about college is to use what
Dr. Anne Donnellan once called, The Criteria of the Least Dangerous
Assumption. Basically, ask yourself if the benefits of the experience
will outweigh the risks. In our daughters case, we felt that her
existence after high school without college would be boring at best. She
had been surrounded with same-age peers for the last 12 years. In our
town, most went off to college or got jobs that kept them out of town
all or most of the time. Our daughter couldnt drive, so her access to
jobs and out-of-town excursions would be limited to being chauffeured
by her parents. We felt she had the right to try what she had wanted so
badly. Im so very glad we believed in her!
The day our daughter graduated from college, just as she was handed
her diploma from the college President, the big American flag in back of
her flared fully open in the breeze. I thought it was tremendously
symbolic of how, despite a few bumps along the way, she has lived the

American dream for special education. She truly has been given the
opportunity to learn in the least restrictive and most appropriate
environment. We must all work to make sure that the American
educational system allows this dream to come true for many others.