Abstract:

Meet-Up is an innovate pilot program for enrolled students at UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). UPC is a Technical University one that provides majors in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) area. As part of the UPC Inclusion Program, for the first time an orientation program for students with an ASD was launched on September 2017.

Nowadays, colleges and universities are receiving more admission applications from young adults diagnosed with ASD than in the past, because ASD was sometimes confused with other disorders, but since the late 1990s the revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) seems to be an important factor on early diagnosis and intervention of ASD, so many of these students are now in a position to consider enrollment in higher education, which was not a viable option a few years ago. Since lecturers and schools at UPC have little experience of students with these disorders, the program was designed with the support of ASAC (Associació Asperger de Catalunya) professionals, an Autism Spectrum local organization, and deployed with follow-up sessions conducted by ASAC psychologist team.

Follow-up sessions are held at lunchtime, always at the same time and place, in order to provide students and Meet-Up staff with a familiar environment and a relaxed atmosphere conducive to free and open discussion. Finally, we experimented with the use of technology as a tool for cognitive support to help students focus on independence and control in order to reduce stress. In this initial stage, we confined the experience to electronic agendas, a contact list using WhatsApp and access to the virtual campus by means of smartphones.

The promotion of the Meet-Up program was highly unsatisfactory in the first edition and a real concern for Meet-Up staff since students were allowed to incorporate ongoing in the course edition. This work presents the design of the initial Meet-Up pilot, the second edition revised program and qualitative results that cover the first edition feedback. Student profiling and initial screening tests (STAI, BDI, EQ and AQ) have been incorporated in the second edition while substantial promotion effort and organization issues have been addressed. First indicators, show a 100% increment in the number of students continuously attending to monthly follow-up sessions.

Keywords:

Autism Spectrum Disorder, Orientation program.