SCSU and Chapel Haven collaboration expands possibilities for varied-ability adults

Aug. 02--NEW HAVEN -- For many students, the thought of working in a group is a stomach-churning experience.

But in the Southern Connecticut State University summer course Fundamentals of Social Communication, it's enriching in a way a textbook could not provide.

Through a partnership between SCSU and Chapel Haven's Asperger Syndrome Adult Transition Program, university students interested in communication disorders and adults with disabilities who live at or take day programs at Chapel Haven interact and collaborate.

"There are a lot of hands-on activities in the course, a lot of small group work. The groups are shifted every single day, so if you go to a typical classroom, people sit in the same place every day and tend to work with the same people, but here we don't do that," said Deborah Weiss, chairwoman of the Department of Communication Disorders at SCSU.

In its three years as a program, the course has given students a deeper base of knowledge from which to discuss social communication in a collaborative sense. For the adults at Chapel Haven, the course can expand both their vocabulary and their opportunities.

"They earn a college credit, but on a more global scale, it opens up the college campus and they learn what it is like to be in a college classroom," said Chapel Haven Vice President of Admissions and Marketing Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo. "It's different from being in a class here at Chapel Haven, because the expectations in a college classroom are different. They're learning about Southern and how to navigate that campus."

Professor Barbara Cook, who teaches the course with Weiss, said she knew from a prior relationship with Chapel Haven that such a course could he enlightening for everyone involved.

"For some of them, it's their first course at the university level," she said.

Justin Knoth, 19, one of the students in the class from Chapel Haven, said it is his first class at the university level.

"I've been around a lot of the stuff they've been discussing my whole life, pretty much, and what they've been going over is pretty relevant to me and has been beneficial for me," he said. "It was a lot of fun; we were able to communicate nicely. In the beginning I was kind of hesitant to really talk that much, but as it went on I got more comfortable."

Knoth said the course is especially helpful, as he has a younger brother "very much on the spectrum," and he came away learning some things that may be helpful for him in being his brother's advocate.

"If he's in a bad mood and doesn't know how to communicate, maybe we can all figure out how to help him communicate," Knoth said.

Weiss said Cook and she have aimed to create "a bona fide academic course, challenging from an academic point of view, while addressing the needs of individuals for whom this is their first experience."

Cook said the course delves into social cognition and brain processes.

"It's not only a course about disabilities. It offers a broader perspective on social communication and challenges everybody faces," she said. "There are different degrees of challenges that people face when we communicate. It's not only about looking at the disabilities people have, but looking at the everyday challenges we all face and the theories behind them and how we become better communicators."

In the department's clinic, which sees about 150 clients with language disorders a week, Chapel Haven students in the course will have what they've learned reinforced, Weiss said.

As with many parts of the Chapel Haven curriculum, Sullivan-DeCarlo said the adults in the program are responsible for figuring out their transportation, with many taking the bus to SCSU's campus.

Weiss said the course is still rare in the field of communication disorders at universities in the nation.

"Most programs don't offer a standalone course in social cognition," Weiss said. "It's infused in many courses, which we also do, but having a standalone course that melds different populations like this is really a pretty unique course."

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