Asperger's and Autism: Achieving Independence After High School

This week I was involved with an interesting visit to a program merely 2 miles down the road from Hill Top Prep.  Carousel Connections  was created in 2012 by Amy and Chris McCann as "a community of support that walks alongside families as they journey across stages of development." Mainly, this is a summer program of up to six weeks in length.  Families can sign up their young adult to participate for 2 weeks or 4 weeks or all 6 weeks.  Located on the campus of Haverford College during the summer, Carousel Connections provides independent living experiences during the summer but has also grown into offering weekend adventures in which summer participants can sign up to travel together to places such as the Poconos during the Fall and Winter months. They also work on community building and employment opportunities through community service projects as well as supported and customized employment experiences.  Lastly, they work on thinking ahead planning by starting wit

On a recent visit to the east coast of Florida, I spent a whole morning at the Els Center of Excellence for Autism . Located in Jupiter, Florida, the home of the PGA, Ernie and Liezl Els started this academy and resource center in August of 2015.  The philanthropy of the area and the corporate support from the PGA and those companies associated with it, The Els Center has truly become an amazing facility with rapidly growing resources for individuals with ASD of all ages. Having visited several years ago when they had just begun, I returned with the intention of seeing the new program called, Adult Services.  What an inspiring morning I experienced. Directed by Dr. Kerri Morse, the Adult Services Programs include various opportunities for pre-employment training as well as work experience.  They began with providing work experience for their clients in their first and second year working in the field of hospitality (a considerable market in this part of Florida) and also at

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I had an insightful follow-up phone conversation with Dania Jekel, Executive Director of AANE .  We talked about a number of things but spent a good deal of time on the importance of building partnerships with other organizations and institutions in the community around us. One of the organizations she talked about is called the Simons Foundation .  It sounded very interesting so I did a bit of time on the internet to learn more about them.  Located in NYC, its focus is on supporting efforts in science.  One of the divisions of the foundation is SFARI; Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative which was launched in 2003.  They have awarded over 380 million in grants to more than 400 investigators in the research of autism.  In 2013 they formed the Autism Brain Net which is bringing together programs across the country who are doing research on brain samples from individuals diagnosed with autism who have donated their brains for the

While in Boston, I also enjoyed a lengthy visit with some new friends at Aspire.  This is a program located in Lexington, Mass at the Lurie Center and is part of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Detailed information about this program can be located at:  www.massgeneral.org/children/aspire The overall mission of Aspire is to provide programs to help children, teens, and adults with high cognitive autism spectrum disorders or related social profiles.  As with other conversations, I focused my time on the adult programs.  In the adult programs, they serve no specific diagnoses but the deficits that each individual presents such as social skills deficits, or emotional issues or executive function issues.  Here again, like AANE, they don't design set programs that clients should fit into but design programs to fit the various strengths and needs of the client.  There are even three separate locations to better meet the needs of clients.  I learned that their adult services pro

A visit to the AANE, located west of Boston, came about because of a meeting with them that took place over nearly a year ago....actually because of our Dinner with Dads program.  Many of our dads (and quite a few mom's who came to the Ladies Night) met Ron Fournier at our Dinner with Dads .  Ron struck a chord with many of us because of his book, entitled, " Love that Boy, What Two Presidents, Eight road Trips AND My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations ".   When the AANE folks decided that they wanted to start a program for fathers, Ron encouraged them to reach out to Hill Top and learn how we got things started.  In talking with them, I became so excited about what they were attempting that I felt I wanted to be there for their first evening program.  I even invited some HTPS dads to join me on this field trip to Boston to join in the festivities.  It was an inspirational evening, to say the least. So that brings us to this post. I reached out to A

One of my objectives for this sabbatical is to learn about resources that are in our area for young adults in their 20’s who have an average to above average IQ and have Asperger’s, complex learning disabilities or are on the high end of the autism spectrum.  I am doing this by meeting with lots of new people and revisiting with long time friends who are interested in this project and can share their ideas and insights with me. Connecting with folks began this summer.   Through a wonderful pair of women with a company called Evolve Advisors who have been hired by Hill Top to assist with our fund-raising I was introduced to a gentleman named Michael Rouse.   If folks don’t know Michael, they are likely familiar with his company, ESF Summer Camps. It turns out that Michael and his wife are interested to learn more about autism spectrum disorders.   So, we began to get to know each other this summer. In one of our conversations, Michael suggested that I might want to meet a

The Centers for Disease Control report that only 55% of people diagnosed with ASD, nationwide, will have a job six years after graduating from high school (AJ Drexel Institute suggests that it is 58%). For high school graduates in the Delaware Valley on the high end of the spectrum what is currently available in our area and what new ideas can be offered to address the following objectives to help them achieve independence? Satisfying social experiences Moving from the security of the family unit to a new community with others Meaningful post-secondary education and training designed to fit identified interests Valued employment opportunities Achieving social, financial, housing and education success can ultimately provide any individual with a salary and the other benefits that define us as adults, as being independent, and as a contributing member of the society. In the fall of 2017, the Board of Trustees at Hill Top Preparatory School approved a three-month sabbatical for th