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The Arizona School Setting Kids With Autism Up for Success
Like many students across the country‚ 16-year-old Ayden von West has high hopes for his education and career once he graduates from high school. “I want to get into engineering‚” he says. “I’m probably going to go to college for aerodynamics or aerospace engineering because I want to get more into the engineering and flight design of drones.”Â
Statistically‚ however‚ von West faces a more difficult path than most do when it comes to achieving his dream. That’s because von West is autistic.
Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face tough odds after high school: According to a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics in 2012‚ only 35 percent of 18-year-olds with ASD go to college‚ and of those who graduate‚ only 15 percent are employed. More recent studies have similar findings: Only 36 percent of young adults on the spectrum attempt postsecondary education‚ including two- and four-year colleges or vocational schooling. Of those who do‚ only 38.8 percent will complete their degree. This means that only about 14 percent of students with autism go on to graduate from college.
High school math teacher Supreet Kaur‚ AZACS’ STEAM and Innovation Director‚ leads students in coding and robotics using Go Pi Go. Courtesy of AZACS
In many cases‚ what stands in the way is not the youths’ intellectual faculties or physical capabilities but instead the lack of specialized education and transitional support services.
In Phoenix‚ Arizona‚ one woman — and one school — is seeking to change that.
Diana Diaz-Harrison is the founder of Arizona Autism Charter School (AZACS)‚ the first and only autism-focused charter network in the Southwest.
A former teacher‚ Diaz-Harrison was working in broadcasting and Spanish-language media when her son‚ Sammy‚ was diagnosed with autism at age two. Finding it difficult to access quality public education or affordable private schooling as he got older‚ she immersed herself in his care and the educational best practices for the disorder.