Indiana program trains people with Asperger's for life

From The Herald-Times :

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Every student in the College Internship Program in downtown Bloomington has a story to tell about overcoming adversity.

For many, a big problem is feeling comfortable in social situations and making and keeping friends.

For others, it's the intense focus they put into matters at hand, which causes them to forget about appointments and deadlines until it's too late.

Some struggle with beginning a task, or completing one.

What they have in common typically is Asperger's syndrome or a related form of high-functioning autism. "Most of our students are of either average or above-average intelligence," Bloomington director Karen Thomas explained recently. "What we do most here is work on their executive skills and social skills deficits. They don't really function at the level that equates to their cognitive skills."

The Bloomington CIP center is one of four in the country, launched by founder Michael McManmon. McManmon is a story unto himself -- he's a psychologist, educator and counselor who worked with special education and learning disability issues before a colleague took him aside and pointed out to him that he exhibited nearly all of the markers associated with Asperger's.

"I'm sort of the poster boy for late diagnosis and what can happen when you start to understand yourself," he said from his Massachusetts office this week. "I was good at my work, but I couldn't even ask a question of someone at a party or social situation. I couldn't do small talk because it felt like lying. And when I did go up to people and try to talk, I'd wind up lecturing them and they'd get bored and walk away."

McManmon said his own experience validates what research in the field has demonstrated -- that awareness and acceptance of his "learning difference" has helped him change his behavior in a positive way. "I hope that I'm no longer the know-it-all at the party," he said with a chuckle. "Actually, I feel pretty confident that I do much better in social situations."

McManmon launched the first College Internship Program in Berkshire, Mass., in 1983. Other centers are in Brevard County, Fla., Berkeley, Calif., and Bloomington. The Bloomington center is at the street level of Smallwood Plaza, and most of its 20-plus students live independently in apartments in Smallwood.

The private program is expensive, McManmon and Thomas acknowledge. Tuition fees range from $38,500 to $69,500, not including room and board or fees for classes at other educational institutions.

McManmon knew of Bloomington because his daughter, Kelly, attended Indiana University and played basketball for the Hoosiers in 2006. She left IU and transferred to St. John's, but her father recognized that the city was a great spot for a CIP center, having Ivy Tech and IU close by. "Our Indiana program is our hidden jewel right now," he said. "It's small enough to get around, but wonderfully diverse in culture. The program there is very strong."

Students in the Bloomington CIP range in age from 18 to 26, and many have had unsuccessful experiences in higher education prior to enrolling in the CIP. Amy Breyer, from Nashville, Tenn., said she regularly "sabotaged myself" in school, often doing assignments but not turning them in, for reasons she still doesn't completely understand.

Counselors at CIP have given her the individual attention she needs to catch herself before repeating those behaviors and are working on developing ways she can monitor herself. Breyer does not have the social awkwardness that many of her peers exhibit, however, and has worked or done internships in Bloomington at the Montessori preschool, WonderLab, Head Start and the Waldron Arts Center.

Alex Fisher is from the Chicago area and came to CIP with two clear areas he knew he needed to work on: test initiation and social skills. He said he was afraid to talk to strangers and especially reluctant to talk to women. But with the help of the program and a female social skills mentor, he's much more comfortable interacting with people and has moved into the Collins Living/Learning Center on the Indiana University campus.

"I'll admit I'm not as socially integrated as many students there, but that's not something I could have done before this program," he said. Fisher is majoring in economics and minoring in Hebrew studies.

Daniel Busch is from Bloomington and said without hesitation that his years at Bloomington South were not happy ones. "I was teased because I did things differently. They basically assumed I was stupid," he said. "Truthfully, I was introverted or socially awkward. I can see that now.

"But I've been given resources here and done things that my high school peers would never have thought I could do," he continued. "It's things I've learned, things that did not come naturally to me. People who can just walk into a room and be comfortable and talk to people, I don't know that they realize what they take for granted.

"I've learned to take what has been a negative and turn it into a positive," Busch said. "Awareness is the key."