Sarita Freedman: Developing College Skills in Students with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome

Children born in the early 1990s who were diagnosed with an ASD and received early intervention are now coming of age and entering college. The transition from a secondary special education environment to the less structured and more social post secondary environment of our nation’s colleges is particularly difficult for higher functioning students on the autism spectrum. Freedman has written a practical book identifying seven critical skill sets for success which are: self-awareness, environmental, self-advocacy, organizational, asking for help, self-care and social skill sets. Each skill set has its own chapter that is further subdivided into sub-skills or problem areas that a person with an ASD must be able to navigate successfully in college. What is particularly helpful is that each of these subsections is further subdivided into early preparation and later preparation steps. This allows the parents, educators and therapists working with younger children to develop building block steps to more complicated behaviors that the student with the ASD will need to master. …