Parent?s Guide to College for Students on the Autism Spectrum

Sending a son or daughter off to college is daunting and fear-provoking experience for most parents, but if your child has an autism spectrum disorder, the challenge is magnified many times over. Even high-functioning students with excellent academic preparation face difficulties in higher education, primarily related to communication, social skills, and sensory-based issues.

For many, the accommodations and special interventions that supported them in high school will no longer be available on a college campus. This parent-friendly book, made especially so because it is written by parents, who also are autism professionals, takes the fear and mystery out of the college experience. Learn how to select the right campus, how to work with Disability Services staff, what legal protections apply, how to prepare your son or daughter to be an effective self-advocate on campus, what assistance can be reasonably be expected from residence hall managers, faculty, and much, much more.

Jane Thierfeld Brown, EdD, is director of student services at the University of Connecticut School of Law and co-director of College Autism Spectrum. She has worked in disability services for 33 years. Dr. Brown’s main research interests are students with Asperger Syndrome in higher education and students with disabilities in high-stakes graduate programs. She consults with many institutions of higher education, as well as with parents and students on issues of students with autism spectrum disorders, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She co-authored Students With Autism: A Guide for College Personnel. Dr. Brown has three children, the youngest of whom is a 20-year-old son on the spectrum.

Lorraine Wolf, EdD, is the director of disability services at Boston University where she holds faculty appointments as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine and an adjunct associate professor of rehabilitation sciences at the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. She has over 30 years’ experience working with individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and has taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Dr. Wolf consults internationally on university accommodations for students with disabilities and has published and presented extensively on clinical as well as legal issues for students with attention and learning disorders, psychiatric disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders. She is co-author of Students With Asperger Syndrome: A Guide for College Personnel. She is the parent of twin boys, one of whom is on the autism spectrum.

Lisa King, MEd, is a co-director of College Autism Spectrum, an educational consulting company that provides training and guidance to colleges regarding best practices for working with students on the autism spectrum, in addition to working directly with students on the spectrum and their families as they transition to, through, and beyond college. Additionally, she serves as an access consultant for St. Catherine University. Under the guidance of colleagues and co-authors, Jane Thierfeld Brown and Lorraine Wolf, Ms. King led a two-year pilot program at the University of Minnesota implementing a new model of service: Strategic Education for Asperger Students. She is a wife to Chris and mother of Ian and Bryn.

G. Ruth Kukiela Bork, MEd, is past founder, dean, and director of the Disability Resource Center, Northeastern University in Boston. She serves as an adjunct lecturer on disability for the Physician Assistantship, the Counseling Psychology, the Rehabilitation and Special Education, and the Psychology Programs at Northeastern University. In addition, she has served as director of student services at a private high school where she implemented changes to prepare families and students for transition from high school to college. Ms. Bork’s professional involvement in disability affairs and advocacy spans 38 years. She has written and spoken on a variety of disability-related topics ranging from employment of students with disabilities, supporting international students with disabilities, coordinating and providing support services in higher education, and high-school-to-college transition of students with disabilities.