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First-Ever CSU Autism Symposium Kicks Off this Week in Fort Collins

Temple Grandin
Photo courtesy of http://www.theautismnews.com
Temple Grandin

CSU Animal Sciences Professor Temple Grandin will deliver the keynote address at Colorado State University’s first-ever Autism Symposium.  The purpose of the event is to find out how the campus community can help autistic students succeed.

The two-day event will bring together parents, students, educators and others to examine the best ways of helping students with autism make it through college. Currently there are about 27 students on campus who have come forward and identified themselves as being somewhere on the autism spectrum.

“The numbers are small, but the rate is fast increasing,” says the director of resources for disabled students at CSU Rose Kreston, “And it’s not unique to CSU, it’s everywhere, because they’re getting through the K-12 system successfully, and these are bright students and they do have the capability to do college level work.”

But some of the non-academic aspects of college can stand in the way, such as social situations or overwhelming stimuli on campus. 

“Sometimes we focus on the student and what the student needs to do and those kinds of things, but we forget about what the campus might need to do,” says Kreston.

The symposium will feature sessions for faculty, as well as for parents and friends and roommates of autistic students. It will also include session on transition from K-12 schools to college. The event starts Wednesday at CSU’s Lory Student Center.

Information can be found here:  http://www.colostate.edu/events/autism-spectrum-symposium.aspx