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Stephanie Harris is a university student on the east Coast who shares her experience as a voluntary mentor for a college student with Asperger’s Syndrome.

After spending my entire summer at home working with individuals diagnosed with Autism, I decided I wanted to continue my involvement with this population while I was attending college. I contacted the Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center (SPARC) with my background and availability. It was decided that I would be a good match for the Peer Mentoring Program which is a volunteer position with a one hour per week minimum requirement. I was paired with an adolescent college student who is one year older than I am.

A Hint of Truth in Hollywood

My husband is a serious fan of Kirk and Spock so when the new Star Trek block buster hit the screen, we were first in the ticket line.  I must admit that I was never much of a fan however I was deeply intrigued by what I saw.  Let me preface my fascination with a quote from my 21 year old son who was diagnosed with AS four years ago. 

 “I think people with Asperger’s are an outcome of the evolution process.  In the past the world needed people who could communicate well because society was based on communal living.  But with all the technology we have today, we need logical thinkers who aren’t distracted by their emotions. “

BOOK EXCERPT: Robin Aronow-Meredith
"Too Many Eyes Spoil The View"

When Chase was young, his favorite insect was the dragonfly.  I remember a vacation on the east coast of Florida where one of these deft creatures landed on Chase’s nose and stayed there.   Everybody around him took off.  But Chase walked around for over an hour, face towards the sky, modeling his catch.  There existed a quasi communion between the humana nd the insect.  They were amazingly comfortable, one with the other even though a highly unlikely pair of comrades.   Maybe somehow they had an understanding that each shared the other’s secret, a secret about sight, about vision and perceptions of the world around them. 

A dragon fly has huge 'cluster eyes' that bulge out of the sides of its head.   You can’t miss them.  They are both frightening and  repulsive to the non-insect lover. They are oriented upward and to the sides so they don’t miss a thing.  These monster apparatus are composed of thousands of six-sided miniscule lenses which are each independent of the other and yet work together to give the insect incredibly detailed perception that can distinguish not only color and brightness, but is able to track electromagnetic waves, minute, almost unperceivable motion, and detect extremely rapid movement.  This is due to the fact that certain zones of the lenses are flattened and can let in huge amounts of light which greatly increases acuity.  The more light that comes into these lenses, the higher resolution of minute details.  

Individuals diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome are on an autism spectrum.  Not only are some Asperger’s Individuals (AIs) more effected than others, but just like the colors on an artist’s pallet blend at the edges making barely noticeable changes in tone and texture, different types of behaviors on the spectrum blend.  They blend with other disabilities, physical ailments, and plain old life’s circumstances.  It is hard to find any two AIs who display the same social behaviors.  Even though all are challenged in some aspect of relating to the world around them, individual needs can differ greatly from one person to another. 

In my experience, AIs seem to be one of two types.  On the one hand, there are those who don’t verbalize enough, and those who verbalize too much.  In both cases, the verbalization and social behaviors are inappropriate in some way.