It’s been a while since I’ve
written anything, and, as a first time blogger, I’m learning a lot about what I
need to change to be more diligent about posting. First of all, I need to schedule a time to
write and put it on my calendar. Second,
I need to stop waiting until I have updates on the program to write. Here’s what I mean by that. For the last several months, I’ve been
waiting patiently for the Tennessee Board of Regents to approve the student fee
for Full Spectrum Learning. In order to
serve students to the best of our ability, we have to implement a fee so that
the program can be self sustaining.
Grant funds are great, but they only last the term of the grant (in our
case, we had two small grants for the 2015-16 year), and they can often be
difficult to acquire. I’ve been waiting
on word from my administration about this decision so that I can give all of
the details of what the program will look like next year, but it hasn’t come,
so guess what? I’m going to stop waiting
around and write anyway.
Since August, I have had
the opportunity to work with 10 amazing individuals. Although all have a diagnosis on the autism
spectrum, they are all very different and have unique talents and challenges. I think, as a society, we tend to think all
individuals with autism need to be lumped into one category and all have the
same needs. This is an absolute
untruth. Of these 10 individuals, I have
interacted with and assisted all of them in different ways. They have unique personalities, varying
organizational skills (or lack thereof), and multiple academic majors (people
often ask me if they are all computer science majors). Some of the students rarely speak in class; they
simply soak everything in. Others do not
want to stop talking and can dominate the conversation at times. Some of them become over stimulated very
easily. Others can be overstimulating themselves. They are so different, and it has been a
wonderful experience.
As I plan for next year, I
think about all of their strengths and needs, the advice that they have given
me to make the program better, and what I can do to make their educational
experience as stress free and successful as I can. I’m also considering the needs of our
incoming freshman. These are things like
housing and roommates, registration, and transitioning from high school to
college life. We are determined that this program will always be student
focused and based on the needs of FSL participants. We always appreciate feedback, so if you have
suggestions or just comments, feel free to post, or email me at grogang@apsu.edu. I’ll write again when I have information
about the fee and services for next year.
Hopefully that will be soon!
If you or someone you know is autistic, planning to go to college, and would like to apply to our program, visit www.apsu.edu/full-spectrum-learning. The application is at the bottom of the home page.
