What We Do
The Bridges to Adelphi program (called Bridges for short) aims to promote a sense of belonging and acceptance for our students.
The Bridges to Adelphi Program offers individualized comprehensive academic, social and vocational services that are designed to make the transition from high school to college easier for students who have autism spectrum disorder, a nonverbal learning disability, or problems with executive functioning and socialization.
The supportive Bridges to Adelphi staff is dedicated to teaching strategies and skills to students during meetings so they can learn how to utilize their skills on their own and be more independent. We foster independence and self-determination. While we encourage students to self-advocate, we always provide assistance if they request it.
Academic Coaching
Your academic coach is a Bridges student worker who will help you with executive functioning. Your coach will:
- Review your assignments, help ensure they are submitted, track your grades and make sure academic accommodations are in place
- Help you manage time effectively, build your communication skills, and help foster your interpersonal development, problem-solving abilities and self-care.
- The Bridges program has a strong relationship with our math and computer science department, offering math and computer science tutoring as well
Learning Strategy Coaching
Your learning strategy coach is a dedicated student worker who will reinforce what you learn from your academic coach while also helping you:
- Prepare for exams
- Build research and library skills
- Develop academic success practices
- Address any areas of academic avoidance
Social Coaching
You’ll spend 45 minutes to an hour each week with your social coach, who will help you and other students focus on challenges you encounter. You’ll work together as a group to:
- Carefully assess behaviors and transform any negative tendencies and beliefs
- Nurture positive connections with your peers
- Improve communication skills
- Gain valuable insights into interpersonal relationships and acquire new abilities to decipher social cues and communicate effectively
Vocational Coaching
Your vocational coach will provide comprehensive support, including optional fully standardized vocational testing to provide insights into your ideal major, potential career path and most suitable work environments. You can also receive individual vocational assistance with:
- Résumé writing and job interview skills
- Completing job applications
- Finding internships and job placements on and off campus
- Job coaching and meeting with the student’s supervisor to assess their job performance
- Learning what it means to be an employee and how to be a good one
- Professionalism in the workplace
- Effective communication and nonverbal communication skills
Bridges, rather than running the lives of the students, pushes the students to develop life skills to help manage their own lives. With that help, I was able to easily handle the transition from college to career life.
Research and Promotion
The mission of the Bridges Research Program is to promote the efficacy of Bridges to Adelphi services using empirical evidence. To these ends, the Bridges Research Program performs internal reviews, conducts research for publication and presentation to the scientific community, and develops effective grant proposals and grant reports to fund Bridges to Adelphi services.
Support Resources
A little support can go a long way. In addition to the services provided by the Bridges to Adelphi Program and the Student Access Office, the following are links to neurodiversity resources outside of Adelphi:
- Integrate: Employer Training and Partnership
- Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism Association: AHA Association provides support and information for families, individuals and professionals affected by autism spectrum disorder and other pervasive developmental disorders through a hotline, support groups and conferences.
- Autism Speaks: Dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.
- Autism Spectrum News: A voice for bringing you a new and trusted source of news, information, education, research, advocacy, and resources about the promising and ever-changing world of autism spectrum disorders.
- Wrong Planet: The web community designed for individuals (and parents/professionals of those) with autism spectrum disorder and other neurological differences.
- Interactive Autism Network (IAN): An online project that brings together people affected by ASDs and researchers; the goal is to facilitate research that will lead to advancements in understanding and treating ASDs
- National Debt Relief: The National Debt Relief has a new financial resource guide for families of individuals with autism. In this guide, you will find advice for saving money on medical care and day-to-day expenses, as well as an introduction to programs and funds meant to support families of individuals with ASD.