Chris is joined by Dr. Katie Gaebler, founder of AutismNERD (Neurodiverse Education Resources of Denver), to the show for an important conversation about preparing and supporting autistic teens and young adults as they transition to
life after high school. Dr. Gaebler explains that when considering the true “price” of attending college, it is essential to look beyond just financial costs. She highlights three critical components: financial, experiential, and emotional. Chris and Dr. Gaebler also explore the various accommodations colleges offer to support neurodiverse students — and why understanding these resources ahead of time can make a big difference. Throughout their discussion, Dr. Gaebler emphasizes how essential early preparation is, and how parents play a pivotal role in helping their neurodiverse students successfully navigate the college journey.

Links:
AutismNERD: https://www.autismnerd.com/

Autism Learning Lab Website:
https://www.autismlearninglab.com/
Email: chris@autismlearninglab.com

Quotes:
[2:22-3:06] Dr. Gaebler: The difference between “college capable” versus “college ready.” I see that “college capable” is the ability to meet admission standards, right? So when a student applies to the college of their choice, can they academically kind of fit what standards are required for that particular college or institution? Whereas the difference of “college ready” would be the ability to meet graduation standards, right? So it's a comparison of what are admission standards versus what would be graduation standards. And there's so much that goes into the whole process of college and there's so many dynamics for it, you know, including the social, emotional, just navigating large systems, executive function needs, you know, just even traveling, are you traveling across the country for where you're attending, all the components that go into that.

[11:00-11:40] Dr. Gaebler: And so that's where just having the consciousness of and self-awareness, but also I think it's really important for families and the student to be on the same page as much as possible, as far as what's realistically in the best interest for that individual, as well as what support accommodations that student is gonna be able to provide for themselves, but might be within the context of their environment, right? And having those facilitated conversations before attending, I think is one of the best things that a family can do for themselves, frankly, because we just want everybody to be on the same page.

[41:29-42:00] Dr. Gaebler: It's called the Talking College Card Deck. And it's discussion prompts for students with learning differences. And it's a deck of cards. They're basically all these different categories like 15 categories of things that you're gonna experience in college and then you within each of the categories. There's typically three to five cards and each card has, maybe three or four questions on it and everything in there you're gonna face post-high school life somewhere somehow.

Chris welcomes Dr. Ingrid Boveda, Founder of The Hive Psychological Services and co-owner of Cogenuity. As a testing psychologist, Dr. Boveda works with neurodivergent children, adolescents, and adults across the country. Through her work with Cogenuity, she partners with schools and treatment programs nationwide to offer low-cost brain mapping and neurofeedback services. In this episode, Chris and Dr. Boveda discuss the power of self-awareness and self-advocacy—two traits often lost in the push to conform to neurotypical expectations. They explore how behaviors frequently seen as “problems,” like rigidity or hyper-focus, can actually be incredible strengths when embraced and understood in context. This conversation is full of compassion, perspective, and practical wisdom on how to truly support autistic individuals—not by changing who they are, but by helping them thrive as they are.

Links:
Autism Learning Lab Website: https://www.autismlearninglab.com/
Email: chris@autismlearninglab.com
The Hive Psychological Services: https://hivepsychological.com/
Cogenuity: https://cogenuity.net/

Quotes:

[21:00-21:28] Dr. Ingrid Boveda: “It's not how close to normal when I think about it. It's not how close to normal or neurotypical that person can become. Because again, there are certain benefits to being able to mask when needed, right? So it's not all bad. But if therapy or treatment or coaching, whatever modality. Like if the goal is let's make them indistinguishable from a neurotypical person, you've just done them a great disservice.”

[28:39-29:07] Dr. Ingrid Boveda: “I tell people sometimes, we’ve got to hack your brain. And take the things that you have been told are the sum of your weaknesses and we have to realize how we can use them as strengths. But then also, you know, thinking about, you know, when we talk about weaknesses or struggles or a disability, right? Like, how much of that is based on the standards of society versus how much is a genuine, you know, disability or genuine struggle, right?”

[30:32-31:15] Dr. Ingrid Boveda: “I want to help as many people as I can and I recognize that as helping professionals, we're looked to as the decision makers or the experts or whatever. And I just, I don't know about any of labels but but what I do know is that you know these are these are people's lives and and I certainly know what it's like to to be misunderstood or to have my behaviors or what I say or do you know be misconstrued usually for the you know for the negative and and I just I want to help in understanding what this really is beyond what society has told us it is.”

Chris welcomes Lauren Franklin, a 15-year veteran teacher. Lauren has taught Resource Special Education in middle and elementary schools and is currently teaching a self-contained classroom to students with disabilities ranging from Autism to Down Syndrome to Cerebral Palsy. Together, Lauren and Chris discuss classrooms, including accommodations, special education classrooms, IEPs, 504s, and more. If you’re just beginning to navigate school with your ASD child or you’re halfway through and wondering what support is available to you, make sure you save this one.

Quotes:
[2:22 - 3:14] Lauren: Some students with Autism have these sensory challenges. On an IEP, accommodations could be lowering the lighting, providing noise-cancelling headphones, frequent breaks built throughout the day…Autism challenges with behaviors, we accommodate a lot with like, a token reward system where a student meets 5 prompts and then immediately is given praise or that tangible reward or a break that they prefer. Work is highly modified, assignments are shortened, the curriculum can also be completely modified and completely different. Some students may need a different math curriculum while others can still work from the gen ed curriculum with the modifications made.

[3:32 - 4:26] Lauren: So, an IEP is an Individualized Education Plan. So, when you have a student that is diagnosed with a disability, there’s testing that goes on and eligibility is determined in a certain area, and that IEP is then written by a team; teacher, special education teacher, sometimes a process coordinator or someone who represents the district, and then your related services like OT and PT, speech and language - so, all these people come together at the table and they discuss the students present levels of how they’re functioning currently and then they develop goals based on what the evaluations kind of, the data from the evaluations, based on teacher and team recommendations as well - so the IEP is very goal driven and extremely data-driven.

[18:43 - 19:30] Lauren: I think teachers are really special people. At the end of the day, teachers want nothing but student success. Some of us get a bad reputation but ultimately, everything we do and every decision we make is for students and what’s in their best interest. And what I think is helpful is if parents can assume positive intent and make the relationship with their child’s case manager, special education teacher, gen ed teacher, whoever it may be - assume positive intent and really work to strengthen that relationship because when we can work together in support of one another, that is the most beneficial for students.