University adjustment 100

Mentees stated in their interviews that the purpose of AMI, for them, was to receive support in transitioning and adjusting to university. The mentors supported the mentees throughout Term One and Term Two by providing strategies that helped the mentees with their individual goals. While most mentees were first year students, there were four mentees who ranged from second to fourth year as well. Thus, university adjustment for the mentees was an ongoing process that does not just simply occur in the first term or first year of the mentees’ time at university. Furthermore, many of the challenges that the mentees faced from having an ASD diagnosis (i.e. social or executive function deficits) could be addressed within AMI. Thus, AMI was helping mentees to adjust to university both as a university student and as an individual learning to manage their symptoms of ASD. Sarah (mentee) explained that university adjustment meant “Being able to conquer any challenges university gives you. For example, completing assignments, interacting with others such as students and professors.” According to Baker and Siryk (1999), university adjustment refers to “a student's success in coping with the academic, social, and emotional demands inherent to the college experience, as well as his/her attachment to the particular institution he/she attends”. The consensus amongst how mentees described what university adjustment meant to them seemed to fit quite well with this description.

David (mentee) shared his reasons for joining AMI, which were “To adjust to life at SFU and ease into the new academic and social way of life it brings.” He believed that the purpose of AMI was “To help students transition into university and manage the work and lifestyle of SFU.” Mentees saw the purpose of AMI as supporting any challenges that the mentees faced as a university student, whether they were transitioning or continuing their studies. Sarah said, “I think the purpose of AMI is to help those who need more help than others get adjusted to university and all the challenges that come with it.”

One mentee, John, specifically stated that AMI was a unique program in that it was tailored to help autistic students and the different challenges and learning styles that they bring with them to university. He said,

I think the purpose is to help autistic students learn strategies so that they can adapt better to SFU. It’s not unusual for autistic students to have trouble doing work, and moving to an entirely new community can be really intimidating.

Another mentee pointed out that AMI especially helped mentees by providing a setting where they received help from others who understood that they have ASD and who were trained to support the needs of students with ASD. AMI was a program that supported the mentees in adjusting to university because of its understanding of the diversity of the strengths and weaknesses of individuals with ASD. Amy (mentee) shared,

I know often people with autism do not visibly show their disability. And if they do, sometimes people may try to avoid them. I think the purpose of this program is to guide students with autism with their academic careers and school life.

For Tom, who was a third-year student, he stated that the purpose of AMI was to help him adjust to university and that this was a gradual process for him. Tom described that AMI was aiding him in his university career and that “It’s kind of a gradual thing” for him. He explained how AMI was useful in helping mentees adapt and navigate university life, while also helping them feel more connected to the institution. Tom stated the purpose of AMI:

To help people, both the mentee in acclimating to life and the institution, through the mentor, such as to be able to accommodate the mentee and others like him/her, to be able to get the full “proper” experience.

The mentees, whether they were first year or further into their degree, felt that their mentor helped them to adjust to university through guidance and support and helping them feel connected to the institution. Mentees not only faced the challenges of being a university student but also the challenges that came with having ASD. AMI was unique in that it not only addressed the challenges faced by mentees as university students, but also addressed the specific needs and learning challenges of the mentees that came from having ASD.

Normalizing university experiences

As mentioned, many of the challenges faced by the mentees were common experiences shared by other non-ASD students on campus. Thus, mentors used their own experiences and knowledge as a university student to relate to the mentees and to let them know that the challenges and stress they were facing were part of being a university student and not specific to their diagnosis of ASD. Mentors normalized the experiences of the mentees by letting them know they weren’t the only students who felt stressed and overwhelmed by competing academic demands, the many changes in scheduling and classes, and the difficulties in making social connections. Mentors also used normalization as a way to connect with their mentees. Therefore, normalizing the university experiences for the mentees was a big part of the mentoring process, especially in Term One when mentees were faced with many new competing demands. Susan (mentor) explained,

At least help them to know that you know not everything is personal, you know. If they get a bad grade then, you know, it’s not just because of their disability. Kind of normalize some of their some of their insecurities or lack of skill. You know this population tends to kind of isolate themselves perhaps. At least my two mentees somewhat have, so connecting them and sort of showing them that you’re not the only one who’s failed a class, you’re not the only one who’s bad at time management, can be comforting and at the same time, can sort of help them to feel normal.

Helping the mentees to feel ‘normal’, as mentioned by the AMI mentors, meant knowing that feeling stressed and overwhelmed is a common experience among university students. The mentees were not alone in this process, as mentors normalized university as way to connect with their mentees. Susan pointed out how others go through similar challenges as a university student and how she believed this relation provided comfort for her mentees. Michelle, another mentor, also mentioned how providing normalcy involved relating to her mentee:

I feel as if I try to make things very relatable. So like one thing where she was talking about how, I mean she’s met people but she hasn’t made any really really close friends and I told her that, you know, I’ve been in post-secondary for too many years, probably like six or seven and I can say that I have maybe three or four close friends in all of that time. And mostly everyone else you meet will just kind of be that classroom friend or semester friend but then eventually you do start to meet those people that you connect with more, because it’s hard to just

go in and expect that you’re going to make fifty new best friends, right? And so, I feel as if I have a lot of stories, that I can normalize the feelings. If that’s the proper way of saying it.

Lisa (mentor) further elaborated on how the process of feeling challenged and feeling overwhelmed is experienced by other university students. When Lisa was asked the purpose of AMI, she expressed,

I think the purpose is to facilitate a natural experience at university for students with autism. I think that it’s a like a new area that universities are having, like post-secondary education institutions are having to look into because students generally in school, like in high school, have a lot of support. And then coming into university it’s not that they’re not, you know, capable of doing the work but there’s so much that goes on to university for any student, right? It’s totally normal to be overwhelmed by everything. There’s nobody checking in, like to make sure you do your homework, or no one’s going to call your parents if you don’t show up to class. There’s a lot more open. And I think that can be a challenging arena to navigate, regardless of if you have autism or not.

Jamie (mentor) also stated how university is challenging, regardless of having a diagnosis or not. He added,

I think socially just having that support system and having that someone to talk to is really important in helping them adjust to university especially sort of learning from someone who’s gone through the same thing, because adjusting to university is hard for everyone, I mean, regardless of diagnosis.

Importantly, Anna (mentor) pointed out that while students with ASD face many of the same challenges as other non-ASD students, the stress and challenges are even greater for students with ASD. Anna alluded to the idea that if university is challenging for all students in general, it just be even more challenging for someone with ASD, who needs extra support to assist them with their learning. Anna said,

I think because maybe those students sometimes have a harder time expressing that they either are feeling overwhelmed or that there’s anxiety, they might have a hard time interacting with people and getting them to understand where they are coming from, what problems, if any, they are dealing with. So, I think having a program like this, it establishes the autism part but then it kind of sets it aside and says okay we’re just going to go about the problems that you have like any

other person, which kind of eases their, I think, their distress on trying to get the other person to understand like I also have either a disorder or [I’m] on the spectrum. It’s like another thing to deal with.

Mentors felt that mentees, while they faced many challenges, faced them to a greater degree than other university students. Therefore, having the support from the mentors was helpful if they could ease some of the stress and anxiety for the mentees. A program like AMI, however, focuses on the needs of each individual, and not the disability, which the mentors believed, had been a successful approach to helping the mentees adjust to university life.