Succeeding in College with Asperger Syndrome: A Student Guide

by John Fitzgerald, John Harpur, Maria Lawlor

College life is particularly stressful for students with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and the resources that colleges provide for such students are often inadequate. This handbook provides information to help these students prepare for the rites and rituals of studying, interact with staff and fellow students, cope with expectations and pressure, and understand their academic and domestic responsibilities. Drawing on first-hand interviews with AS students and direct clinical experience, the authors address these and many other questions, and make practical recommendations.

Genres: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2003

Reviews

[Aust · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book read unfortunately much too low level for me. The target audience is likely to be coming directly from high school work little to no life experience. As such this might be a decent book since it explains so many of the "obvious things" social interactions consist of but ASD people often struggle with.
For me as a mature student however, this book gave no advice on how to handle my studies and a lot of the social interactions advice that I've already figured out the hard way.

[Martin Glazer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book enough. It helped me go through my first year at a Dutch campus university in a way I had never expected. Although each day is still a struggle, I got the most out of it thanks to this guide. It is really encouraging you to participate in the everyday student life, taking away uncertainty by explaining you what kind of things you can encounter on your way. I have had a lot of fun during my first year and made several new friends. Also, I learned not to be ashamed of my limitations. Life is as it is, you can't help it anyway. There was no need for me to got make use of the student support services, but it is good to know they are available for me when I need them. Next year, I will most probably be in the board of my student association, at the same time I will keep on studying and I am planning to take part in a lot of leisure activities too. It's definitely going to be hard to succeed, but mainly thanks to this book, I got the chance to give it a try.

[Chandra Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the book is written towards people in the 17-22 age range, the information it covers is fantastic for a college student of any age and for parents, significant others, and even roommates.

One of the most useful things the book offers is how to prepare for new things. It shows how one can break things down into steps and prepare for each step. Things like going to where each class will be located before the term starts and doing a walk through of the things that a student will normally encounter and researching option when the student encounters difficulties whether they're academic, social, or health related.

The book gave wonderful information on how to communicate more effectively with someone who has Asperger's and things to ask and more importantly how to ask them to make sure both parties understand things.