A College Structure for Students with Asperger Syndrome (page 2)

Characteristics of the Best Programs

So what do the best programs offer? The best support for professors can be found with the ADA Compliance Officer. In the old days, many students with AS were treated as obstinate, argumentative or just “a pain” with all their special demands, and ill consequences often followed. Without a proper and organized chain of communication between staff and faculty, those old days can resurface very quickly. Mandatory, one-time presentations to faculty on the nature of their student’s diagnosis are the easiest and most effective solution to prevent the recurrence of misunderstanding of students with AS.

The best representatives of the Office of Student Disabilities also share this same knowledge with dorm supervisors (and, if applicable, athletic coaches). The peer isolation that may have existed in high school does not automatically disappear simply because said peers are older, or because there is a new set of peers with whom the student with AS can interact. The behavioral differences that AS can present can stigmatize a student as “the weird kid” for their entire stay in college, or worse, can be misinterpreted as a threat, causing bigger problems than mere friendlessness.

The best Offices of Student Disabilities create as much work for themselves as they can. Superior Compliance Officers always help students identify needed accommodations that will help them succeed on campus.

Personal Considerations of the Student

The monkey in the wrench is the student himself. For while there are certainly things to be learned through a generalized study of the diagnosis, no two students with AS are alike. Not only does AS encompass a broad range of functional ability, but there are sometimes varying degrees of anxiety, depression and, to a lesser degree, anger. These are not diagnostic characteristics of AS. They are instead the sometimes by-products of living life in the behavioral minority—in a world that they do not understand, and that too often does not understand them.

Other considerations to be looked include: Are college students aware of their diagnosis? If so, are they comfortable with it? And are they comfortable sharing it?

Students who are unaware of their diagnosis should be made aware of it. Without this knowledge, they will always wonder why everyone else is handling things differently from them and will almost always arrive at the conclusion that they are second-rate human beings. They will interpret those differences as faults. Students who know that their wiring is simply different can handle the challenges of life on the spectrum with infinitely greater success.

Who should tell the student? Ideally, the parents if the opportunity to hear it from the diagnostician has since passed. Parents who do not disclose may have had their reasons for keeping this secret from their child, such as the old “Why do you want to put a label on him?” attitude, which is now known to be even more harmful than what they initially were scared of. Not sharing the “label” with the student almost never has good results.

Whoever tells the student about the diagnosis must approach it with the idea that they have good news to tell the student, not bad. This is not a feel-good approach; it is the truth. Reasons for the student’s challenges can be attributed to neurology, replacing personal fault or weakness.

For the student who looks upon himself as a lesser person because of the diagnosis, the best help is to get the student involved in peer support groups (i.e., with other kids on the spectrum) or urge the student to read the myriad of books that emphasize the positives that (believe it or not) the diagnosis can bring. Talking with a therapist who understands AS can also be beneficial.