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A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Summit campus, left, and the Health and Wellness Center, right, was held June 17 on Williams Street.
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Summit campus helps students on autism spectrum transition to college
Veer Mudambi Worcester Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK
The transition from high school to college can be stressful for several reasons and for just about anyone. Nikki Koppel agreed, “college can be a very tough place — people think it’s a magical, romantic experience but for kids who have a tough time connecting and finding their people, there’s not a lot of magic there.” h But the house at 37 Fruit St. is expected to make it easier for them. Koppel described it as “very homey so our kids arriving will do better and have a more positive outcome during this transition to college, knowing they have a community that supports them.” It’s a welcoming dorm for college students — and much more. See CAMPUS, Page 11
The entrance to the new Summit Health and Wellness Center on
Williams Street. RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE The entrance to Summit campus on Fruit Street. RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
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The local Worcester college students who will live there are on the autism spectrum. Koppel, who is director of residence life at the dorm, said that students with autism who are leaving home, often for the first time, need “an immediate, living, learning community which says you’re not alone.”
The Summit Agency, which runs the Summit Academy for kids on the autism spectrum K12, saw the need for an expansion of services beyond the high school years. With about 250,000 students on the spectrum heading to university over the next decade, support services that will put them on the path to success are imperative. While autism includes a wide spectrum of symptoms and associated conditions, it is defined by core features such as delays in speech and language, difficulty in social communication, and restricted interests. These core symptoms are further complicated by accompanying conditions that are not psychiatric in nature, like gastrointestinal difficulties, neurological conditions such as sensory difficulties,
A dorm room inside Summit campus on Fruit Street. RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Call 508-829-4575 to book your appointment today! apraxia and frequent headaches. So these students deal with multiple stressors — isolation, anxiety, executive function disorder and depression which all affect cognitive performance. On June 17, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Summit Health and Wellness Center on Williams Street that will provide psychiatric help and behavior counseling to autistic students in the Greater Worcester community. In addition, there is now a residential facility called Summit campus on Fruit Street for autistic students continuing their education and attaining life skills, which will open in time for the fall semester. Both the campus as well as the SHWC are new initiatives of the Summit AgenWM-0000459252-01 cy. Dan DiMezza, CEO of Summit and executive director of the academy, indicated that their whole mission is to reach as many families as they can, so developing initiatives like Summit Campus and SHWC was part of the larger plan. “Our focus will be on high functioning students on the spectrum — they can come to the center for services, whether they’re living/affiliated with us or not. We want to reach as many people as we can in the spirit of a nonprofit.” It is common to see individuals with autism struggle in different life domains. Not only academics, but also coassociated psychiatric conditions — such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, as well as independent living skills and social interaction with peers. However, many of the traditional services are only set up to help them academically or with mental health services. Dr. Oliver Joseph, chief psychiatrist at SHWC, expressed frustration that the two arms — academics and mental health services — are not usually inte
Campus grated. And “the third part,” he said, “everything else like living skills, housing, sensory overContinued from Page 11D load is not addressed at all. So we are trying to develop a model that incorporates all those three elements.” The Summit Campus building, a large classical Victorian, was rebuilt with sensory awareness in mind. Joseph explained that they frequently see sensory integration difficulties in individuals with autism — touch, light and sound. So as part of the rebuild, they installed high quality soundproofing and specialty lighting where colors can be changed for comfort as opposed to sharp white light. Joseph called it, “giving them the tools to make an environment that works for them.” He believes that nothing quite like this has been attempted before. “What’s cool with the campus specifically, is to have it actually work in collaboration with the students’ counseling department or accessibility services at the schools. We hope to develop a collaborative partnership with the schools in the coming years, in the same way I might work in collaboration with a primary care doctor, if the primary care doctor was treating something that affected my patient psychiatrically.” The program represents a revolutionary model of inhome supports through a dorm environment. Austin Gilghrist of Michigan who will be in Worcester for an internship at a welding business, is looking forward to living there. He shared that he is nervous, “I’m a type1 diabetic so there’s a little bit of worry.” Defining himself as “different, always — I’m not the average type of person because of autism, diabetes and learning disabilities. But the learning disabilities give me different perspectives on life and learning things. It’s let’s me do woodworking and welding so easily.” He hopes the small cohort will lead to some manageable social See CAMPUS, Page 13
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situations and he will learn to be independent with “general life stuff like grocery shopping and laundry.”
This is exactly what Joseph and Koppel hope to achieve and Summit is going to be offering a strong base of support. They will use the Program for Educational Enrichment Relational Skills, a program for young adults with autism, teaching them how to communicate with professors and reciprocal conversations. The PEERS curriculum was designed at UCLA and is one of the ways to help kids with social difficulties by modeling new behavior and social functioning, through video and role playing situations. Koppel finds it invaluable in helping students. “If I asked about your weekend, it’s good to ask about my weekend.”
Joseph is equally optimistic that this type of support will encourage students to learn to develop plans for creating their own zones, do chores, and practice social skills with each other. “Both group and individual work are necessary to develop functional ability and historically, we’ve found that what limits the impact of mental health counseling is the lack of real life application.” Though he admits that over the last five to 10 years, mental health treatment in colleges has been an area of growth.
One of the biggest issues has been the closing of Becker College. “When we built this program, we had built it in part with them in mind,” Joseph said, “given that there is a large game design population there, which included many individuals who could have benefited from this program.” It has been a particularly difficult time for a number of those students, since Becker provided really intensive services through their counseling department that
Dan DiMezza, CEO of Summit, speaks June 17 during the opening of the Summit Health and Wellness Center. Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Timothy P. Murray, District 2 City Councilor Candy F. Mero-Carlson, and State Senator Micheal O. Moore, left to right, also spoke. PHOTOS BY RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Dan DiMezza, CEO of Summit, speaks June 17 during the opening of the Summit Health and Wellness Center. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the Summit Health and Wellness Center was held June 17 on Williams Street.
Nikki Koppel pulls raffle tickets for prizes during a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Summit Health and Wellness Center on Williams Street Thursday, June 17.
RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
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served their students well. Some of those students are moving to other Worcester colleges but there is “a huge concern from parents about the services at new schools like Clark and WPI and access to mental health counseling providers.”
Some of these students are going into their senior year, so they need to transition into a new school over a matter of months. Koppel explained that individuals with autism “don’t pivot quickly, they don’t like surprises and they need more time to adjust to change.”
Cautiously optimistic that a further expansion of services in a scalable model is possible, Koppel said, “I don’t want to put the cart ahead of the horse but I would like to see apartmentstyle dormitory living — it really does help instill those independent living skills.” She indicated that it is crucial for students to identify what their needs are and how those can be met, in order for the program to be able to help them succeed. “We don’t want to tell them what to see but show them where to look.” As academic demands increase over the years, so does the difficulty of balancing priorities like finding roommates, finding apartments, etc.
Koppel’s passion for this project is fueled by her personal connection to Worcester — her 20yearold autistic son went to Becker. ‘I’ve been walking this road since he was diagnosed at 18 months, so I understand what these students and their families are going through.” She knows that all parents want for their kids is for them to be happy and stable and that doesn’t happen magically when you go to college.
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We want things to be pristine. We want things to be untouched by human hands.
But the things that are untouched by human hands, were meant to be played with by kids. I know we are adults and are wrapped with mortality and nostalgia. We want the toys of our youth. We begin to collect “Star Wars” or “Ninja Turtles” or “Transformers.” And to really make it perfect. Not only do plan to never play with the toy we spent so much money on, we demand that no one else ever touched it as well. We want our toys to be like cloistered nuns.
What you will have is a piece of plastic encased in plastic. You will have object d’art and not a toy. You will have a facsimile of a toy.
I know that I am annoying all the toy collectors out there, but I will say it. Screw the resale value. Take the toys out and have some fun. You know, fun. Like playing with the toys you loved when you were a kid. Display your “GI Joe” toys in odd poses. Let them cavort with the Barbie dolls that you also released from their plastic prison. Put them in dioramas. Perch them on edge of bookshelves. Take them out in the wild and take action photographs with them. Hold on to that doll you always wanted when you were a kid, and whisper small truths into its plastic ear.
That Mego SpiderMan action figure from 1975 is dying in his box. He can’t breathe. He is suffocating. He has been stuck in that box for 46 years. Imprisoned with no trial. No crime. He is the victim of the insidious penal system and the toy market. Release him now. The DNA evidence has come back inconclusive. Free the Holly Hobby Seven!
I don’t understand the appeal of a toy that has never been played with. It doesn’t feel like a thing of great value. It feels like the saddest creation in the world.
David Macpherson is a poet and humorist living in Worcester.
Take the toys out and have some fun. You know, fun. Like playing with the toys you loved when you were a kid.
AP FILE PHOTO
