PHOENIX – Arizona State University is finding numerous ways to accommodate those living on the autism spectrum by having them create a variety of autism/neurodiversity services to give people a sense of hope, aid, and welcoming while they’re transitioning to their college lives.
All four campuses across Arizona State University offer a variety of autism-related services dedicated for students who need help proper guidance. With services such as Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services (SAILS), Neurodiverse Devils, TRIO, and Employment Assistance & Social Engagement (EASE), people at ASU are working together to help students succeed in school while on the spectrum.
SAILS serves as a helpful resource for ASU students to help accommodate them while on the spectrum. The mission behind SAILS is helping students “find their best selves, put it into their education, and find their success”. Heather McKendrick, who serves as one of the members of SAILS, specializes in “autism curriculum development” as well as “autism studies”. Heather McKendrick was a master’s student at ASU who formerly specialized as a public-school teacher for the
special education department and currently works as a mentoring coordinator for SAILS. Heather McKendrick grew up in a foster care home that cared for kids with autism. Later, she worked with kids on the autism spectrum assistant paraprofessional during her high school years and studied severe special education in college, focusing on autism.
“Through and through the years, I’ve seen so many different kids on all different sides of the spectrum.” said McKendrick. “No one here is the same. We’re all different.”
Another helpful autism-related service ASU provides is EASE. Developed by Deana Delp and Maria Dixon, EASE is an autism support program dedicated to helping engineering students on the spectrum that involves “peer mentoring to assist with the transition to college life”, according to the ASU website. Two peer mentors would aid and discuss with engineering students on the autism spectrum, helping them out with students who are struggling in school. The program also has a curriculum developer who helps the peer mentors with creating surveys,
meetings, and content.
“Typically, in the classroom I notice executive functioning issues.” said Deana Delp, a member of EASE. “I have made modifications to my classes over the years to break down large projects into tasks, give students reminders of assignments that are due, and to facilitate in-person team management.” The autism population has been increasing and is continuing to thrive in Arizona, with “1 in 36 children” being diagnosed on the spectrum, However, Arizona is working their way up to providing services and accommodations to help others on the spectrum. ASU is willing to take action to help students with autism and other neurodiversities, giving Arizona a chance to bring light to such an important topic to the forefront.
“There’s still a lot we can do to not only involve individuals with autism and other neurodiversities, but to allow them to be fully accepted into this public.” said Heather McKendrick of SAILS.
In this video displayed above, I interviewed Heather McKendrick, a mentoring coordinator at Arizona State University’s Student Accessibility and Inclusive Learning Services (SAILS for short). Within the duration of the video, she answers questions like why she wanted to become a mentoring coordinator at ASU, asking her if she ever worked with people on the autism spectrum, and what she does to help people on the spectrum whenever they’re struggling with something. Her answers are both really creative and really insightful and they give me a good perspective as to what it is like to work with people on the spectrum.
Elizabeth Sedlak 