Students With Autism Are Heading Off To College, But Autism Programs Still Have Miles To Improve

Across universities in America, students with autism are navigating and adjusting to regular life like other students. These are the first generation of kids with autism who are fulfilling their capabilities, which was never possible before.

With the rise in diagnosis for children with autism in the '90s, efforts to normalize their condition, as well as make these kids participate in mainstream activities, have also risen. As a result, students with autism have access to better facilities, programs and opportunities today compared to two decades ago, including the chance to actually attend college.

Take for instance Colin Ozeki, a 16-year-old student with autism, who believes that getting a diagnosis of his condition helped him and his family chart the path to his education. "I don't think I would be at this place that I'm at right now if it weren't for people acknowledging the idea that I had some kind of problem per se," he said, according to NPR.

Ozeki has been part of New York's Department of Education's ASD Nest. The program helps students with autism in public schools who have the strong academic potential be in the same environment as regular students.

Being in ASD Nest is making Ozeki college-ready. But despite having such a program to benefit students with autism, the number of those who actually opt to go to college is still low, according to a study published in the Pediatrics journal.

The improvements are there, but it isn't enough. One of the problems as to why this is so is because school officials aren't sure if they have the proper data to account for all 200,000 special needs kids under the public school system, or if they are indeed getting the guidance they need.

According to WNYC, New York has a Special Education Student Information System. It was established in 2011 to keep track of the progress of public school special education programs. But its data gathering has been challenging thus far and it's preventing schools from meeting the needs of the kids.

The department, however, is committed to addressing the difficulties. Oversight and other measures have been set in place in New York's Education department since September.