12-year-old with autism, visual impairment, is off to college
by Beth
I know firsthand how difficult it can be to take college courses without being able to see. But imagine being visually impaired and having autism, too! That’s what life is like for Alex Beach, who is headed to North Georgia College and State University this fall.
Oh, and did I happen to mention? Alex is only 12 years old! From a story on FOX 5 news in Atlanta:
Alex’s family said intellectually speaking he was ready to go to college at age ten, but they held him back until now to let his social skills catch up.
The story says Alex’s mother plans on driving him to college each day, but she won’t be sitting in class with him. Her 12-year-old is fluent in Japanese and Latin. He composes music and is a master at chess. She says she knows her son may always lag behind when it comes to emotional development, but she doesn’t want that to hold him back. “If you hold back the intellect,” she said in the news story, “you have more problems with the autism.”
I’m going to keep my eye (okay, my ear) on this story — will be interesting to see how Alex fares this fall. My prediction: come December, I’ll be publishing a post about Alex making the dean’s list!