College Internship Program is Asperger’s gateway to higher ed

College Internship Program is Asperger’s gateway to higher ed
(December 2009 Issue)

By Jennifer Chase Esposito

College may not be for everyone, but it should be for those who want to go. That among many was a principle behind Michael McManmon, Ed.D's founding a school for students who otherwise might've failed out of university because they just couldn't get their proverbial acts together.

The College Internship Program (CIP) comprises four campuses in Melbourne, Fla., Bloomington, Ind., Berkeley, Calif., and Lee, Mass., that provide specialized academic, internship and independent living experiences for post-high school young adults with Asperger's, high-functioning autism and learning differences.

CIP's multi-pronged approach readies students for college life or life on their own. While living on campus in furnished one- or two-bedroom apartments, students learn what people without Asperger's and similar diagnoses grossly take for granted: cognitive skills necessary for social interactions like making eye contact with people and recognizing non-verbal facial cues; functioning skills like time management and organization so term papers aren't begun the night before they're due; and "well being" practices like yoga, healthy eating and exercise to manage stress.

If CIP sounds like an all-inclusive college, it sports a tuition that rivals many. Services are based on how much interaction is necessary to help students move toward completion of a degree at a nearby college while living at CIP, so the tuition slide starts at $38,000 and goes to near $70,000. For many, it's the necessary steppingstone for high school seniors not quite prepared for the rigors of a regular college experience, but who want to taste independence on a level akin to what their learning differences allow them to handle.

McManmon's founding CIP drew on his own experience as a high school senior who never felt "right." "I can remember feeling socially alienated. I had friends picking up friends, driving and I was still growing tomatoes and gardening and taking them to the old ladies on the street and talking with them," he says. How, McManmon wondered, had his friends gotten to where they were without him?

McManmon wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until 2003, when a colleague at the Berkshire Center (then, the only campus in the program) approached him on behalf of his staff. After reviewing the list of 22 characteristics associated with the disorder, they believed McManmon had gone undiagnosed for most of his 60 years.

"Now, as a 60-year-old man, I can tell if people are bored with me," says McManmon of his growth since his diagnosis. In an article written chronicling this realization process, McManmon says that the interaction started a series of events which culminated in the founding of three centers in addition to the one in Lee, Mass. "Looking back at all the events of my childhood and schooling, there are so many insights as seen through the eyes of ASD. It explains so many situations and difficulties to me, but mostly it is a source of strength."

McManmon instilled that same strength in students like Susan H. (her last name was withheld at her request), who attended CIP from 1989-1992. "After high school, I didn't get into the college I wanted because of my learning disabilities. Later, I learned that I'm in charge of my own destiny, but at the time I just thought, 'Oh, I'm stupid' and I got depressed and thought, 'Well, I'm just going to be different, and that's how my life is going to be."

Susan's poor previous work record was also a concern. Her non-verbal learning difference made it nearly impossible for her to remember the details of any job that was verbally explained. "I felt like an idiot if I asked people to repeat," she said, which resulted in feeling inadequate, and lots of firings.

"Of course I went kicking and screaming," she says. "Looking at it now, I was afraid I was going to fail."

Under the direct tutelage of McManmon, Susan earned her associate's degree in early education at a nearby college and finally enjoyed her first successful job at what was then called Mulberry Daycare in Lee, Mass. She later earned her teaching certification and became a lead teacher where she ran daycare classrooms and organized curricula. Today at 38, she is a nanny for three children in Newton.

The difference between her post-CIP job successes and the failures she'd felt before? It was the ability to admit when she didn't understand something. "I have the power for things not to overwhelm me," she says. "I have the power to take things step by step. I used to say to Michael, 'Oh, I have this; I have that.' And he used to say to me, 'This could be [worse]: ...choose to live for today.' I will never forget that."

McManmon still lives by those phrases. "Self acceptance is the key thing that helps people unlock their lives, and be themselves in a healthy, loving way," he says. "When I accepted and learned who I really was; when I started being my genuine self, that worked for me.

"We teach our students to celebrate their best parts."

Like founder, like student.