Presentation:

Poster Session: Janet Miller, M.A., Special Ed., and Karen Thomas, M.A., Special Ed.
As students leave the structure of the high school and home environment their social/emotional and executive demands increase exponentially. These challenges, if not addressed can lead to decreased self esteem, academic failures, job terminations, addictions, social isolation, and emotional breakdowns.

In our presentation we will share with social thinking providers our experiences in supporting students as they attempt to meet the social/organizational challenges that they face as a college student on the spectrum. We will share what we have learned within our own CIP community, in the college classroom, at the job site, in independent living environments, and outside our doors in the greater community.  We will share examples of video clips, lesson plans, student work, and data collection samples.   We will talk about the strategies we use to move students from being externally controlled to internally motivated and guided.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will understand the basics belief system that drives the social thinking and executive thinking components of the College Internship Program (CIP) curriculum.
2. Participants will leave with an understanding of various teaching tools, strategies, and lesson plans CIP instructors use to teach college aged adults social thinking concepts within our three tiered structure of:
   1. Individual instruction,
   2. Small group instruction, and
   3. Peer social mentoring.
3. Participants will learn how to encourage generalization through the infusion of social thinking concepts which are presented in the social thinking classroom, and then transferred into the larger CIP curriculum, the outside community, the college classroom, the job site, and independent living environments.

Presenters

Janet Miller, MA in Special Education, is currently Program Director, the College Internship Program in Berkeley. She's presented for WACAC, HECA, AHEAD, currently on a Regional State Autism Task Force. At Menlo College, she co-founded a 2006 transition program, winning CHADD's Most Innovative Program of the Year.

Karen Thomas, MA in Special Education, has been teaching in the Bloomington Community for 20 years focusing on young adults on the spectrum transitioning into college or work settings. Currently, as Director of College Internship Program in Bloomington, Karen supports students with Aspergers at Indiana University and the local Community College.