By Ann Palmer; 176 pages. From the book cover: "This accessible book focuses on how parents can help their ASD child to get to college, and how to get the most out of it."
Some parents read books about miracle cures or stoic acceptance for inspiration, but for parents of older kids with special needs, who are finally facing the future, a book like this might fill the bill. While it does offer instruction and advice, it's mostly the story of a kid who, against the odds, went to college and did just fine.
- Gives hope to parents who may have been advised not to.
- Discusses some of the bumps and pitfalls to watch out for.
- Offers information on schools and programs you might not have considered.
- Parent's point of view easy to relate to.
- Tells its story in a compact, manageable length.
- There are still going to be children for whom college is not a reasonable goal.
- Not going to college is not necessarily the same thing as being hopeless.
- Since every kid with autism is different, what worked for Palmer may not work for everybody.
- More one family's story than a guide for all families.
- Chapter One: Starting Out: Diagnosis and the Early Years
- Chapter Two: Strategies for the High School Years
- Chapter Three: Making the Decision about College
- Chapter Four: Everything You Need to Know about Life: A Summer of Lessons
- Chapter Five: Adjusting to the Move
- Chapter Six: Supports and Strategies in College
- Chapter Seven: Self-Awareness and the Issue of Self-Disclosure
- Chapter Eight: Positives of the College Experience
- Chapter Nine: What Comes Next?
- Appendix A: Useful Books and Websites
Appendix B: Sample Self-Disclosure Form
"College was never an option," writes Palmer in her introduction. "The day the doctor told us that our three-year-old son Eric had autism our world changed forever. Many of the dreams my husband and I had for our son disappeared." Like many parents of children with special needs, Palmer focused on the day-to-day demands of her son's condition and tried to avoid thinking long-term. But she came to understand that dreams are still something to cling to, and that it's possible to expect too little while trying not to hope for too much.
Despite those early predictions, Palmer's son Eric did in fact go to college, and this book is largely the story of how she got him there, and what she learned along the way. Whether it will help you get your child there is another matter. Although it's subtitled "A Parent's Guide to Student Success," a better choice might have been "One Parent's Guide to Student Success." But there's value in reading other families' tales of triumph, particularly with so many tales of tragedy fighting for shelf space.
Of course, college isn't right for every kid, disabled or no. It's important to realize that there are all kinds of dreams, and all kinds of successful outcomes for special-needs kids. Whether this book actually facilitates your child's college pursuit, lets you know about programs you may not have considered, or just inspires you to think about what other unexpected thing he or she might accomplish, it's worth a read.
