'Autism wave' prompts schools, businesses to adapt

For a college class, the assignment seemed simple enough: Gather in circles of five or six students and discuss a few questions as a group.

But one young man refused, sitting uncomfortably apart from his classmates and saying nothing.

In the past, he might have flunked the assignment outright. But in this case, the professor met with the student in private and decided to let him answer the questions by himself.

That's just one way colleges and other parts of society are starting to adapt to what might be called the autism phenomenon.

As autism has morphed from a medical oddity to a commonly diagnosed disability — affecting one in 88 children — the ripple effects are being felt far beyond grade schools. Travel agencies such as autistictraveler.com are catering to families with autistic children; AMC Theatres offer sensory-friendly screenings. Some businesses are starting to tailor internships to autistic young adults. Universities such as St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., are trying to make dorms and classrooms more autism-friendly.

“There are more and more students, it seems, coming to college with Asperger's,” a form of autism, said Kim Schumann, disability director at the University of St. Thomas. “I think there's going to be more pressure to adapt and have support services in place, because they're going to come.”

The latest jump in autism numbers are fueling concerns about what some say is a rising “tidal wave” of people with special needs.

Experts are still debating what's driving the numbers — whether it's a true surge in autism, or a reflection of changing definitions and diagnostic techniques. Autism, a brain disorder that affects speech, learning and behavior, covers a wide range of abilities, from children who can barely speak to academic high-achievers.

Most, however, share a defining feature: They lack the social skills that come second nature to their peers.

In college, said Schumann, that can spell the difference between success and failure. Students with autism often struggle with how to interact with others, stay on task, organize their work.

“If they don't have those skills, that will spill into academics,” she said.

One autistic student, she said, waited for hours outside a professor's office to turn in a paper. He took the professor's instructions literally: to hand it in by 4:30 p.m. When the professor didn't show up in person, the student left — and missed the deadline.

“What the professor meant was, ‘Put it in my mailbox,'” she said. Schumann helped the student and teacher straighten things out.

At Medtronic, a medical-device maker based in Fridley, Minn., managers weren't quite sure what kind of accommodations they'd need to make when they started an internship for disabled young adults, including several with autism, as part of a national program called Project Search in 2009.

What they found is that the interns with autism tended to do better in cubicles than in open spaces, because “there's no interruption,” said Stan Blackwell, who oversees the project at Medtronic.

At first, the students struggled with “some of those social skills,” said Kathy Daas, a finance manager who works with the interns. “A lot of them couldn't make eye contact very well.”

But on the job, she said, they thrived. On some tasks, they were more accurate than her regular employees, she added. “More detail-oriented, more focused, and they are so concerned about doing everything right.” By the end, she said, even some of their social awkwardness had disappeared. One student gave a presentation to a couple of hundred people, something she said she “never expected.”

But programs like this are rare. And advocates worry that neither colleges nor businesses are prepared for the coming rush.