I have a delicate question to ask parents who have children on the spectrum.
My daughter is an engineering major and one of her group members this semester has autism. The student has accommodations in class for exams but struggled tremendously with the course and with being part of the project team. He bailed on both attending class and on the project team for the entire second half of the semester.
My daughter privately spoke to the student to see how they could make things different/better but they didn’t make any progress.
Talking to her started me thinking that for students who have classroom/testing accommodations and are receiving autism supports, are there college based program that would also assist with team project based work?
Also, are there resources out there for fellow college students to better understand the challenges so they can more successfully include and support their group members on the spectrum?
The student on the spectrum would be the one who needs to reach out to disability services and the class professor.
I commend your daughter for reaching out to the student. I wonder if the professor might have made some sort of accommodation if he or she had known this was an issue for the project team.
The prof and the TA were aware.
maybe that child has “given up” in that class. i know that having an ASD child that school choice was based on support. Usually kids on the spectrum like to hyperfocus on certain things. Maybe your D could ask this child if they would specifically do XYZ towards the project, or what would they like to do to contribute. Try to find out what their strengths are. For example, if they like video games, maybe find a way to incorporate into the project.
They do start each project do with a strengths/interest inventory. This particular class though has very stringent design parameters so not a lot of flexibility. I think you might be right that he has given up on that class. My D thinks he’s switching majors.
We’re at the very end of the semester but I know D would like to do better the next time.