EDUCATION
pathway to graduation. Thank you, Melody, for
making us aware of the critical dates and for
showing us the options available to Sean, so I
could continue to advocate (from afar) on his
behalf. tionships that evolved naturally were the most
powerful (such as his peers), but a weekly ther-
apist visit reinforced conversations between us
as parent and child. See #3 above, related to
mutual release of confidential information.
4. My son’s living situation was a key success fac-
tor. Living alone was NOT AN OPTION. Not all
introverts should have single dorm rooms on
the third floor with little to no contact with the
outside world. 8. Never underestimate the value of a mundane,
hourly wage job. After six months working at
a grocery meat counter (originally self-report-
ed as the ‘deli’…see #2 above), Sean confessed
that he was surprised to find that he was able
to “get out of his head” long enough to com-
plete low-level job tasks. These work successes
on his own terms proved to be far more valu-
able than anything I could have orchestrated.
5. Your child will surprise you with the things he/
she figures out without your help: doing laun-
dry, paying bills, depositing checks using the
‘app,’ ordering pizza without ever greeting a
delivery person, and getting a haircut. Howev-
er, refilling prescriptions on time will ALWAYS
be a challenge. Set up a mail order service to
avoid medication interruptions.
6. Your child may lose most of his interest in Nin-
tendo, Wii, Xbox, Pokémon, or Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
Most, not all.
7. Accountability partners are critical. These can
take the form of friends, roommates, coun-
selors, and therapists. These amazing people
made sure Sean went to class, kept his commit-
ments for meetings and appointments, took
his medication, and cleared his voicemail to
make room for new phone messages. The rela-
18 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 65
9. My child did not want to wear the cap and
gown and walk across the stage. It turns out
you can have a remarkable graduation cele-
bration without baking in the hot sun in a poly-
ester cap and gown with thousands of people
you don’t know. Don’t force your definition of
‘success’ on him…it’s his life, not yours.
Colleen Hittle is a mom to five children. The oldest,
Sean, was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of
eight. Sean recently graduated with a degree in In-
formatics from Indiana University after a six-year
journey of successes, failures, self-discovery, gained
independence, and parental imperfections.