A reader of this blog asked that we provide advice about resources that exist to aid students with ASD as they transition from high school to college. When considering the transition, it is important to recognize several critical elements:
- It’s never too early for any student to begin planning for the transition, but early planning is critically important for students diagnosed with ASD
- Practical, on-campus experience is helpful to the process
- Teaching self-advocacy is vital
Helpful resources I’ve encountered include:
Person-Centered Planning:
Person-centered planning helps establish life goals, ensure individual strengths are recognized and built upon, and identifies skills in which the student must improve. There are several person-centered planning tools available; however, the Organization for Autism Research (OAR) published a free, online tool I believe to be one of the best available.
OAR’s Life Journey through Autism: A Guide for Transition into Adulthood helps teams explore a variety of life paths for students with ASD, including higher education. The tool can be found at this link: http://www.researchautism.org/resources/reading/documents/TransitionGuide.pdf
Improving Self-Advocacy Skills:
Having insight into one’s needs and the ability to seek out help when needed are skills necessary for a successful experience in higher education. To meet that need, Dr. Valerie Paradiz developed The Integrated Self Advocacy ISA Curriculum. This workbook contains lesson plans, worksheets and activities that teach students to scan their environments for sensory and social needs, learn about self-disclosure, learn to recognize and utilize role models, appreciate the history and culture associated with ASD, and develop interests that can be shaped into a career.
You may find this resource at: http://www.autismselfadvocacy.com/index.php/publications/isa-text-book
Interacting with College Faculty:
OAR, The Schwallie Family Foundation, and GRASP joined forces to create a short but insightful video titled “Understanding Asperger’s Syndrome: A College Professor’s Guide.” Produced to help professors understand ASD, this video can also be useful to students as they begin considering how best to interact with college faculty.
At Marshall University we use this video to train faculty how best to teach students we support. The video is free on YouTube, and is divided into two parts.
Part One
Part Two
by Marc Ellison
Jennifer Allen
Latest posts by Jennifer Allen (see all)
- Merry Christmas! - December 25, 2019
- Texas Embraces Driver License Designation for those with Autism or Hearing Impaired - December 19, 2019
- Give the Gift of Information! - December 9, 2019
- What If It Snowed In San Antonio? - December 6, 2019
- Apart From the Crowd: Isolation in the Early Years of Diagnosis - December 4, 2019
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this blog. It’s
simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult to
get that “perfect balance” between usability and appearance.
I must say that you’ve done a awesome job with this. Additionally, the blog loads
super fast for me on Firefox. Excellent Blog!