Megan Mcdonald
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A Leg Up On Life
A Leg Up On Life
Adults With Autism Are Getting Help With Life Skills
CAITLIN KENNY WRITES a list of goals on a white board for her client, Jonathan Ross, as he logs his recent meals into a computer at his New Haven apartment. Kenny is helping Ross, who has Aspergers Syndrome, with his diet and social skills as part of a pilot program run by the state’s Department of Developmental Service. (CLOE POISSON / January 9, 2008)
By KATHLEEN MEGAN | Courant Staff Writer
January 20, 2008
Above Jonathan Ross’ computer is taped a list of his long-term goals: Lose 200 pounds. Get a job. Become more socially active.
Next to it is another note that says, “I believe in myself,” written five times.
“So have you been saying it?” asks Caitlin Kenny, his life-skills coach, referring to the “belief” note.
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“Yes,” Ross replies. He’s been repeating it out loud once in the morning and again later in the day.
If you were to meet Jonathan Ross, you might not know there was anything different about him. He is perfectly affable, has interesting observations and lives in a well-organized apartment.
But for years, Ross, who is 47, has had trouble making friends, following through on his life goals and leading an independent life. Finally, a few years ago, a doctor told him he has Asperger’s syndrome, a disorder that is considered a mild form of autism.
Asked how it is that Aspergers affects him, Ross spoke about his feelings: “There’s some connection that has to be made, and I don’t have the connection” to form relationships with people.
“If there are seven things in life you need to do things, I have six of them, and that seventh thing, I don’t have,” said Ross. “It’s some kind of learning experience that you have that I don’t.
“I feel like if I could get my hands around that one thing: Maybe I could get something out of life different.”
Now Ross has hope that his life might change for the better. A couple of years ago, the legislature approved a $1 million pilot project to assist adults of normal intelligence with diagnoses on what is called the autism spectrum. That spectrum ranges from people who experience severe difficulty in processing and understanding social and emotional aspects of communication — those with the diagnosis of classic autism — to much milder forms of the disorder, such as Aspergers syndrome.
With about 1 in 150 children having a diagnosis on the autism spectrum, the disorder is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States, according to the Autism Society of America. The pilot project is the first to offer a comprehensive set of services to adults with normal intelligence on the autism spectrum. Launched in the New Haven area in July 2006, the program serves 28 people, and state officials hope to receive more money to expand into the Hartford area this year.
“Our mission is for them to lead independent lives,” said Kathy Reddington, who is autism coordinator for the state’s Department of Developmental Services. James Loomis, a psychologist who is an expert on autism disorders and runs a social skills group for the pilot, said that in some cases adults with this disorder have “negotiated a life and they kind of cope and do what they do. We try to get them a job that’s more satisfying, a more satisfying life.”
Often it is not so much the job as the social interactions around it that can cause problems, Loomis said.
People on the spectrum can take comments overly literally and often don’t understand sarcasm or misinterpret facial expressions or gestures.
For instance, Loomis said, one client thought a boss’s frequent use of the expression, “give me a break,” meant that he had broken something.
Peter F. Gerhardt, president of the Organization for Autism Research in Arlington, Va., said that Connecticut is among the leaders in recognizing the “economic and human benefits” of providing this type of service to adults with autism spectrum disorders.
“People with autism tend to be pretty significantly under-served after graduation from high school,” said Gerhardt. “People with Aspergers tend to be more or less ignored by the post-21 system because when they do a 30-minute interview, they may present as a bit quirky, but they don’t come across as having a true disability.”
However, he said, such individuals do need services on an “intermittent but consistent basis.” With help, he said, they can move from needing public resources to contributing to them.
Though he had worked for 20 years, Ross had had trouble finding steady work since he was laid off three years ago and in that time his physical health has declined.
He gained weight and his diabetes worsened. His days were often spent alone in front of his computer or driving around New Haven.
Since he joined the pilot program in November, he has a date book full of events and appointments. Kenny helps him with myriad skills: developing a healthy diet, cooking, getting exercise, going out to cultural activities and calling acquaintances.
Through the program he also has been linked to a job developer, a nutritionist and attends a once-weekly group session on social skills.
Ross said his top priority at the moment, and something he hopes will help him land a job, is to lose weight.
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“What did you have for breakfast today?” Kenny asked him when she arrives. Ross says he had one egg and cheese at McDonald’s.
“That’s good — down from two. Did you get hungry?” asked Kenny, who works with Ross five days a week. Ross said he didn’t.
And then on a white board set up prominently in Ross’s living room, Kenny erases last week’s guidelines and replaces them with new suggestions from the nutritionist: make sugar-free gelatin jello and pudding; go to the gym five times a week; continue to purchase light yogurt and fruit for snacks; and eat lunch at home three or four times a week.
“I’ve lost 10 pounds already,” said Ross who started in the program in November. Ross’s family has been very pleased with the pilot program. His brother, Michael Ross, said “He hasn’t had these kinds of services any time in his life.
“What has barely begun has filled a void … Not that he didn’t have an existence, but this is a program that is giving him and a lot of others hope for a more fulfilling life.”
Jonathan Ross said the most important thing he has learned through the pilot is: “I’m not the only one that has these types of feelings, that I’m not really all alone.”
The participants in the pilot vary greatly and include twentysomethings who were diagnosed with autism as toddlers and have had services ever since then as well as people like Ross who are in their 40s and 50s but only recently discovered that they are on the autism spectrum.
For the younger clients, the program provides services to fill the vacuum that occurs when they age out of the educational system. Lois Rosenwald, co-director of the Connecticut Autism Spectrum Resource Center, was instrumental in developing the pilot program. “We put a lot of energy into birth to 3 and somewhat through the teen years, but depending on when they graduate, they fall off the end of the earth.”
“Why put resources, energy and money into them and then have nothing when we know that if our young adults are supported into the next stage, they are going to do OK,” she said.
Shannon McEvoy is one of those young adults with Aspergers who had services all the way through school and now at the age of 24 is trying to figure out what she might do.
With the help of the pilot project staff working with the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, McEvoy now has a volunteer position, assisting with recreational programs at a local nursing home. She loves the job and is hoping she might eventually get paid to work in the field.
“The people there like me,” said McEvoy. “They like to see a smiling face, it makes them feel better.”
McEvoy has a “mentor” through the program who meets with her a couple of times a week to go over practical skills, like budgeting or how to do laundry, and also to make sure she has fun. They have gone to museums, Mystic and the movies. She also has a job developer and attends the same social skills group that Ross does.
McEvoy said the social skills program has helped her a lot. “If something makes me mad, it’s taught me different ways to handle it.” said McEvoy.
For Yvonne Murry of Beacon Falls the pilot project has transformed her life. With their help, she found an at-home educational program through which she can get a high school diploma and has also found an at-home job that is perfectly suited to her: She is proofreading puzzles.
Through the program, she now has an “education coach” who is helping her with her school work, a job developer who helped her find the job, a life-skills coach who has taught her how to cook, and she attends the social skills group. Her next goal is to get her driver’s license.
She said the project has helped her to “explore other options and meet different people … My inner world has opened up and I’m not as frightened as before to challenges that may occur.”
Contact Kathleen Megan at kathy.megan@courant.com.
About the Author
[TripleZon] Megan Mcdonald, books, Megan Mcdonald,toys, Megan Mcdonald, books, num=”5″ country=”US” searchindex=”Books” trackingid=”intelovescou-20″ sort=”relevancerank” paging=”true” reviewsort=”-OverallRating” maxreviews=”2″[/TripleZon]
I need some book help?
Here are the books I actually enjoyed reading-
No Talking – Andrew Clements
Lunch Money- Andrew Clements
The Report Card- Andrew Clements
The Window- Jeanette Ingold
Judy Moody- Megan Mcdonald
Tuck Everlasting- Natalie Babbit
Journey to Nowhere- Mary Jane Auch
The City of Ember- Jeanne DuPrau
Help! I’m trapped in the first day of summer camp!- Dan Gutman
Middle School is worse than meatloaf- Jennifer L. Holm
Twilight- Stephenie Meyer ( I started to read it but never finished)
What book genre do you think I would like?
I was trying to find out because I pick random books and I never know their genre
I think you like realistic fiction. I like that genre too.
Megan McDonald 2008-2009 level 10 season
