Realizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome. Ann Palmer

      After surviving the stressful years of middle school, I was hopeful that high school would be easier. The high school Eric would be attending was huge, close to 2000 students. I was worried about the transition to a new school and Eric’s ability to navigate the complicated campus. I knew there would be many students at the high school who had never gone to school with Eric before. I wasn’t sure how accepting they would be. I didn’t know the staff or teachers, didn’t know how involved I could be in advocating for Eric. I was told that there had never been an identified student on the autism spectrum fully included at the school. It looked like we were “paving the way” again.

      All students with disabilities at our high school are assigned a case manager. Eric’s case manager called me at home before the beginning of school. She was a special education teacher working primarily with learning disabled students. She would be available to help Eric if needed, and also be a resource for the teachers if they had questions about autism or any problems in the classroom. She also informed me that she had a personal connection to autism, a young grandson on the spectrum. It was a relief to know that she would be at the high school to advocate for Eric and to help him through the transition to high school. There were a number of times in high school when Eric needed to go to her for help. At the beginning of each school year Eric would often need to go to her classroom when he wasn’t sure where he was supposed to be or if he had trouble finding a classroom. If your son or daughter does not have a person assigned to advocate for them at the school, you may be able to find someone on the campus willing to do that for that student. It is also important to find a guidance counselor at the school who can be an advocate for your child. The guidance counselor should have some knowledge about prospective colleges and keep up to date on the various requirements and levels of accommodations that are offered. Connecting with the guidance counselor early in high school can help guide the student through the important process of preparing for the college transition.

      Now that we had made the decision to continue on the “college track,” the academics became more important than ever before. I knew that Eric’s grades from that point on counted. Colleges would be looking at his grade point average as well as the difficulty level of the classes he was taking. After years of having to help Eric so much with schoolwork, it was hard for me to imagine him being independent enough to do the academics of high school, let alone college. Eric proved to me very soon after starting high school that he could do the work required with very little help and do it better than I expected. I was beginning to see Eric’s real potential for the first time.

      There were several aspects of high school that made things easier for Eric academically. At our particular high school they offered a class called “curriculum enhancement.” Most high schools probably have a class like this but may call it something else. The class was taught by a member of the special education staff, usually a learning disability resource teacher. The class was small and students received instruction to help with organizational and study skills. Most of the class-time students worked on homework and assignments from other classes with help from the teacher if needed. This was a great class for Eric and he took it every year of high school as one of his electives.

      The variety of classes offered in high school was also helpful to Eric. He had more choices and could take courses that were centered around his interests. Students on the autism spectrum will most likely do better in a class that involves a student’s interest or is in an area in which the student is particularly knowledgeable. Our high school had a study program for students wanting to go into the animal science field. The animal science courses Eric took counted toward the required hours of science needed for graduation. Because of his interest in animals, these classes were more meaningful to Eric than other kinds of sciences such as chemistry or physics. It also enabled Eric to be in courses with other students with similar interests.

      Unlike at middle school, many required courses in high school have different levels of difficulty. For example, a student can take English at the basic level, at honors level, or at the advanced placement level. Advanced placement is comparable to a college-level class in difficulty and amount of material covered. Having various levels of courses allowed Eric to take the higher-level classes in subjects he excelled in and take the basic-level classes in those areas that were more difficult for him. The higher-level classes also helped prepare Eric for the rigors of college academics. Colleges will be looking at the level of difficulty of the courses the student is taking in high school. Advanced placement courses are going to look good on a student’s transcripts to college. Many colleges want to see that a student has followed a rigorous academic schedule, especially during their junior and senior years of high school.

      Students on the autism spectrum in high school who are expecting to continue on to college after graduation need to know the courses that will be required to get into college. They should work with the guidance counselor at the high school to make sure they are taking the necessary courses. Students should start as early as the last year of middle school to map out their academic schedule towards graduation. Colleges will vary as to what is required, so students need to research the requirements of any colleges they are considering.

      Most colleges and universities require a certain number of years of a foreign language and certain mathematics or science courses. Eric did not take a foreign language in high school. We knew it would be hard for him and he had no interest in foreign languages at all. He took the curriculum enhancement class instead, which he needed in order to do well in his other courses. We later found out that the university he wanted to attend required two years of a foreign language. Fortunately, the university agreed to waive the requirement for admission as long as he took the foreign language while a student at the university. Not all colleges will agree to do that, so students need to plan their high school course schedule with this in mind. Most colleges do not accept course waivers; therefore, courses waived or avoided because of a learning disability may jeopardize college admission. If the student discovers too late that they don’t have the required courses for entrance into a particular college, they can look into taking the courses needed at a local community college.

      High school students can prepare for college by taking computer courses and becoming more comfortable with using the computer for assignments. Colleges require most papers and assignments to be done on a word processor and students should have some skill in this area if possible. Students who have an easier time typing than handwriting will appreciate this at the college level where very little is handwritten. A student may also want to get some experience in high school with making graphs or tables on the computer. Any online research experience can also be beneficial in high school to prepare the student for college.

      PE classes are usually required in high school. The negative experience of the middle school PE class convinced me that it was not appropriate for Eric to take the standard PE class required for graduation. He hated sports and, because of his motor delays, he was lousy at any kind of team sports. Why put him through it? I tried to have him exempted from PE in high school as I had done for the second year of PE in middle school. I was not successful in this endeavor. The high school required Eric to take some kind of PE class for graduation, but it did not have to be the standard course required for freshmen. Again, the variety of high school classes was to our advantage. We found a PE class that involved weight lifting and running, both sports Eric could participate in somewhat independently. The teacher for the class was great, knew nothing about autism, but was open to learning how best to help Eric.