The Autism College Connection

Welcome back to school and to the ACC! We’re thrilled to be back here full time, doing what we love the most — helping parents and neurodiverse kids reach their potential. 

Summer parenting is never easy when your kids are neurodiverse. Our kids do not always have the same summer experiences that typical kids enjoy. The town pool might not hire them at the town pool. They probably aren’t gearing up for the varsity football squad. There are a growing number of summer programs at colleges and private transition schools, but we’ll talk about those opportunities in the spring time. For now, let’s just get used to the school year again. 

In the autism community, our kids don’t follow the same time schedule towards adulthood and independence as other kids. Some of our guys are in high school; others are in a transition program; some graduated and are thinking about next steps. The transition process for neurodiverse kids starts at age 15, during the freshman year of high school, and might stretch out until age 30. And that’s okay. Rules are boring anyway. 

Planning, however, is not boring. Planning is super necessary. 

So, throughout this year, I’m going to start talking through the necessary steps to help support your child make that Great Leap towards adulthood. We’ll talk about learning goals, the disability safety net, and options that should be explored. I’ll provide checklists and links and more. 

Wednesday evening webinars are coming back, starting October 2. I’ll provide the six month schedule next week. The webinars will continue to be free, or almost free (a small administrative fee), for this year. I’ll continue to share links and information in this newsletter, on the website, and on Facebook. I’m scheduling meetings with clients and discussions — both in-person and through Zoom — for schools and educators. In the spring, I’ll have a book and YouTube classes to share. 

Thank you for joining me. Feel free to forward this newsletters to others.