Campus Life is a day program for young autistic adults and transitioning school leavers to to be included in a right of passage that many young people have after school. Part of our curriculum that has been developed is Passion Projects, where each young adult can practise their interests. They work on these projects with support workers.
One student has created a memory game based on a favourite ACDC song.
With assistance, images were found, cut out and laminated on cards. Other students get excited about the game and want to turn more than two cards at a time, so instructions were also made that include some of the benefits of memory games.
The game has been a great joy to the student, and it increases conversation and social interaction when they ask other students and staff to play the game. Even though the memory game is finished now, it is still at Campus Life as it is popular during the program hours.
One student enjoys creative activities, for example painting and sand art. They have high levels of anxiety and struggle with worries about everyday life.
The student becomes relaxed while focusing on the creative process and has found that even scribbles on a piece of paper can reduce frustration. For this student, taking something tangible home once an artwork is completed is positive.
They are working towards creating posters to share their interests.
One student is very interested in different characters from games and movies. They are in the process of creating a digital story on an app using some characters.
The student first started his project by creating a story with the characters talking about a day at Campus Life and what activities they would do. Then the student went on to draw the different characters using tutorials from YouTube, which they do independently. The student knows exactly what he wants to achieve and is very precise.
The next step was to take photos of all the drawings and add those to the app while recording the various steps of the story by reading it out loud. Being able to read a script enhances his verbal abilities and encourages and improves the use of full sentences.
