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Asperger Disorder: What Students Need to Succeed Post High School

Asperger Disorder: What Students Need to Succeed Post High School. Camille Brandt. Our goal as educators is to help people to succeed in their environments. If higher education is their goal, we need to begin early to prepare them. .

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Asperger Disorder: What Students Need to Succeed Post High School

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  1. Asperger Disorder: What Students Need to Succeed Post High School Camille Brandt

  2. Our goal as educators is to help people to succeed in their environments. If higher education is their goal, we need to begin early to prepare them.

  3. Percentage of freshman with disabilities in 2 and 4 year colleges more than tripled: 2.6% in 1978 9.2% in 1994 19% in 1996 Percentages continue to reflect this trend.

  4. 2009 45% of students with disabilities move on to postsecondary education within the first 4 years of high school graduation.

  5. Generalization and Navigation

  6. Students with Asperger Disorder: • Must acquire skills to evaluate education programs, understand costs and fees, learn about the climate of the university, have knowledge of their rights as a student, and know how to communicate their needs.

  7. Postsecondary disability coordinators indicated areas where students need to be stronger: • self advocacy ‘ I am my own person.’ • independent learning ‘I am responsible for my own learning.’ • understanding laws and rights ‘I have rights and I understand them.’ • developing realistic expectations ‘I know my strengths, skill, & limits.’ • time management and organization skills ‘I can live a balanced life.’ • using technology in a variety of ways ‘Navigation, learning, recreation, social networks, organization…’

  8. Pre-Transition programs must address socialization, communication, independent living, academic organization, and self-advocacy.

  9. If… …mentoring with college peers, job sampling, addressing social skills goals, and focusing on vocational goals results in positive self skills ( Dolyniuk, Kamens, Corman, DiNardo, Totar, & Rockoff, 2002), could (should?) this begin in middle school in anticipation of this need?

  10. If… …faculty attitudes can be impacted positively towards working with students with special needs at the university level through professional reading, research, and seminars (Griffin & Pollak, 2009), could (should?) middle school, high school, and higher education partner to understand the needs of the student with Asperger Disorder?

  11. If… …students who visit campus and practice self-advocacy skills tend to report higher levels of success, could and should there be programs in place to bring students to campus locations frequently over the course of their middle school and high school education career?

  12. It is essential for students with disabilities to prepare for college by learning about support systems on campus, attend multiple orientation sessions, attend summer seminars and experiences if offered, and visit campus multiple times (Hughes, 2009).

  13. Students with special needs benefit from campus visits prior to the start of the school year, including touring the library, computer center(s), eating in the dining hall or other common areas, visiting financial aid, and visiting other important student service offices.

  14. Students who participate in such events report higher levels of confidence in navigation and lower levels of stress and anxiety their first semester (Rotham, Maldonado, & Rothman, 2008). • Students with A.D. tend to have co-morbid conditions of anxiety and depression.

  15. Self-determination skills include the following: • dream of possibilities • have knowledge of self • develop long and short term goals • access support and overcome barriers • be assertive when needed • be able to negotiate with others.

  16. Experiences, planned and purposeful, including high quality curriculum in self-determination appears essential to the success of the student with Asperger Disorder.

  17. Students benefit from organizational skills training, social skills education, navigation skills training, and self-advocacy skills training including opportunities to learn about self-disclosure.

  18. High school counselors and teachers must encourage high school students with disabilities to advocate for themselves and must promote autonomy (Lukose, 2000).

  19. Pre-Transition plans & transition plans must address the support systems for these areas: (Smith-Myles, 2005) Social skills instruction, opportunities to improve communication, organization, coping skills, and opportunities to expand upon areas of interest represent key issues for students with Asperger Disorder.

  20. Resources for further investigation: 1. Navigating the Social World: A Curriculum for Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome, High Functioning Autism and Related Disorders Jeannie McAfee & Dr. Tony Attwood 2. http://www.modelmekids.com/social-skills-lesson-plans.html 3. http://www.socialskillstrainingproject.com/sstbook.html Jed Baker

  21. Just add water… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKRIRZEV4B4 A celebration and recognition of uniqueness of individuals with Asperger Disorder.

  22. References available upon request. brandtca@mnstate.edu

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