The day before Halloween, students at the Burkhart Center for Autism’s Transition Academy were busy preparing for their Halloween party. Students strung cobwebs through the hallways – a few went in search of spiders, though they never said if they were looking for plastic spiders or the living variety – painted pumpkins, baked scary-shaped cookies and danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
They were having as good a time getting ready for the party as they had at the party the next day.
“Tawny, you’ve got cobwebs on your pants leg,” one student called to vocational instructor Tawny Hill.
“I feel like that’s going to be my life from now on,” she responded with a smile.
The students at the Transition Academy come to Texas Tech University five days a week to learn new skills, make friends and prepare for jobs. They like Paul McCartney, soccer and texting their friends. They are seduced by the smell of fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies and averse about cleaning the kitchen.
They also all have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), creating a set of challenges many adults don’t even think about, like the need to call in sick to work instead of just not showing up, how to talk to a supervisor and what hygiene habits are necessary for the workplace. These students go to school to learn how to live independently, be successful at a job and interact with other people.
On Sunday, the Burkhart Center celebrates one year in its beautiful, high-tech, 28,458-square-foot building just east of the Education Building. For the first eight years of its existence, it was housed in the College of Education. Now faculty, staff and students have access to observation labs, a gym for fitness, an art room and a mock apartment with a fully equipped kitchen. It offers the Burkhart Center much more room to grow, which is all the more critical since it is the only facility of its kind in West Texas.
“Moving into the new building opened up many doors for us,” Transition Academy director Janice Magness said. “When we got this building we were certainly able to spread out and do all the things that we really wanted to do with our programs.”
It also provides much the same support that any student wants.
“It’s nice to have a few friends here,” student Michael Morton said.
For the rest of this story, including video of Transition Academy students, click here.
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CONTACT: Janice Magness, director, Transition Academy, Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research, College of Education, Texas Tech University, (806) 834-3725 or [email protected].
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