The Autism College Connection

Laura McKenna, PhD is an autism and education advocate with over 30 years of experience in education policy. With a PhD in Political Science with a specialty in education policy, she has held faculty positions at Columbia Teachers’ College, Ramapo College, and Hunter College. She writes about education and autism for the nation’s top newspapers and magazines, including The Atlantic, USA Today, and Edutopia. Locally, she organizes bowling trips for young men with autism and runs a Facebook page for over 800 parents, teachers, and the community in Ridgewood, NJ. She is also the parent of a 21-year with autism. 

Her publications about autism include:

• My Autistic Son Didn’t Have A Prom Date. What His Brother Did Next Was Beautiful. HuffPost, June 2021
• OPINION: Marching band sets the right tempo for many special-needs kids,The Hechinger Report, January 13, 2020
• How a Supreme Court Ruling Could Affect Special Education, The Atlantic, March 23, 2017
• Notes: When Kids Choose to Sit Alone, The Atlantic, September 15, 2016
• Notes: Making Schools ‘Humane’ for Everyone, The Atlantic, September 9, 2016
• Notes: Less Silence about Silence, The Atlantic, September 6, 2016
• When Kids Sit Alone, The Atlantic, September 2, 2016
• Sesame Street’s New Brand of Autism, The Atlantic, November 5, 2015

Her publications about higher education include:

• Opinion — Many Families Aren’t Sending Their Kids to Small Liberal Arts Colleges Anymore. Mine Isn’t, Either. Here’s Why, The 74, March 20, 2019
• How Does a College Grad End Up at a For-Profit Technical School? It’s All About the Job Market — and the Value of a Bachelor’s Degree, The 74, January 9, 2019
• The First in Their Families, College Bound: Against the odds, seniors from this New York City school are attending and finishing college. Edutopia, April 9, 2018
• Why Colleges Are Embracing the #NeverAgain Movement, The Atlantic, March 2018
• How Hard Are Professors Actually Working, The Atlantic, February 2018
• Why Students Are Still Paying So Much for College Textbooks, The Atlantic, January 2018
• The Unnecessarily Mysterious Cost of College, The Atlantic, September 30, 2016
• The Cost of An Adjunct, The Atlantic, May 26, 2015

Dr. McKenna’s professional website is here.

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