If there is one concern more than any other which parents voice, it is: What will my child do after graduation? What college or career is appropriate? What will they be or become? This concern about the future for their son or daughter is not without merit. Even the most favorable statistics show that the success rate for those on the autism spectrum as they approach adulthood is not great. Many of them don’t graduate high school, and those who do are often unemployed—one measure shows that almost half of high school graduates on the spectrum have never had a job within eight years of graduating! (http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/04/21/401243060/young-adults-with-autism-more-likely-to-be-unemployed-isolated) As a result, many of those on the spectrum are chronically unemployed; despite wanting a job they go for long periods of their lives without any offers or prospects at all. There is also the poor record of college success with many dropping out prior to graduating, or graduating and following the cycle just mentioned, of long periods of searching unsuccessfully for employment. The social cost to the individual in terms of loss of self-esteem and self worth, not to mention the financial burden to the family and the state, is considerable.
Without minimizing the significance of the bad employment numbers, what is often overlooked is what those on the spectrum do well, what they excel at. They generally thrive on routine, on structure in the workplace (or anywhere else for that matter). They can persevere at a task until it is completed, often long after their peers or colleagues have given up and moved on to other things. They can narrow their focus and hone in on a problem, freeing themselves from surrounding noise or other distractions. Individuals on the spectrum can be very detail oriented, and sometimes masterful at recognizing patterns. They also can have very superior visual discrimination.
What has been slow to be recognized is that all of these attributes are of great value in commerce and industry. As we move more deeply into an age where the impact of human endeavor is felt at every turn, and where the attention is increasingly on creatively solving problems, the need for those who can focus deeply, who are detail oriented, who have a sense of logic, order and structure, and who can see the pattern beneath the surface, are in very high demand.
Commercial and industrial enterprises have recently begun to take notice of this untapped resource among those on the spectrum, and businesses such as Microsoft, Freddie Mac, and SAP do have programs to explore how to better integrate those on the autism spectrum into the workforce. It is worth emphasizing also that this is not because of any altruism on the part of these employers, but rather because of the high demand for qualified workers with just the skills and talents that those on the spectrum possess.
To see why businesses are recently being so responsive, consider that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) jobs are expected to grow more than one and a half times faster than the job growth rate as a whole by 2018. Another way to see the tremendous demand for STEM workers is to consider that there are 3.6 unemployed individuals for every job listed overall, but for every unemployed individual, there are 2 STEM jobs listed! Where are these jobs? In IT, in quality assurance, in accounting, in surveillance, in coding, in the arts, the sciences, in healthcare—they are in every field of human endeavor. And those on the spectrum are perfectly positioned to take advantage of their natural abilities to make a success in any one of these fields.
As educators, the challenge always is how best to support, guide and advance our students so that they can meet or exceed their goals and overcome the challenges of poor college performance and unemployment mentioned above. In considering ways to meet these challenges, a bold and exciting initiative emerged. STEM3 Academy is the latest and 10th school to be opened by The Help Group, itself the largest and most innovative non-profit provider of educational and health-related services to those with special needs in the country. And the focus of STEM3 Academy is on just this: how best to boost the natural skills and talents of those on the autism spectrum for STEM-related activities in order to further enhance their performance, both academically and socially, and increase their opportunities for work-related and social success. While this might sound idealistic, we are well on our way!
In order to support those who are gifted academically, we offer AP classes in Calculus, Computer Science, US History, World History, with Statistics, English and Environmental Science to follow. Experiential learning is emphasized both in and out of the classroom, with the students actively engaging the material rather than learning content by rote or passively learning—discussion, debate and Socratic enquiry are hallmarks of the teaching method with teachers posing questions and setting problems, which the students collaboratively respond to rather than teachers merely providing answers. Classes like Robotics and Computer Science provide content knowledge in areas which are in high demand, and all classes engage in the development of projects both in and out of the centrally situated Innovation Lab, a space of roughly 1200 feet, which houses a 3D printer, a CNC machine, and a range of power and hand tools. The goal is to provide every opportunity for students to design and build, to solve problems and find practical, demonstrable solutions, and to prototype engineered solutions to contemporary problems.
The sciences themselves are an area of active engagement for our students and they routinely conduct experiments, collaboratively seeking not only to understand the concepts, but also their range of application. In digital arts too, the class begins with the basics of photography and videography, with students engaged in understanding the fundamentals of light, composition and exposure before applying their understanding to creating their own digital portfolios each year, something that they present at the end of the year in open forum to their parents and the community.
What is also central to the approach at STEM3 Academy is the way in which 21st Century skills are woven throughout the curriculum. Whether it is the spirit of professional courtesy required in Robotics, both in competition and during the build season, cooperation and collaboration required in joint projects, communication skills in debate and making presentations to peers and others, there are countless opportunities daily for students to hone their social and emotional control. In this way, they develop the ability to get on with others and work well with them that is the hallmark of any successful person, and a challenge for many on the spectrum.
We believe that the model and methods of STEM3 Academy, the academic rigor, the applied learning, the focus on areas of strength, the rich opportunities to practice social and emotional control, all combine to improve our students’ prospects for success so that in college and career and in life itself their chances are measurably improved.