Students write the book on autism

Students at a local school for autistic children and young adults have published a booklet to help public safety officials communicate with nonverbal or non-English-speaking individuals during emergency situations.

In the run up to National Emergency Preparedness month in September, the Local Emergency Preparedness Committee - a group of local public health and safety officials - asked if students at the League School of Greater Boston could put such a book together.

The school's stated goal is "social and academic achievement with the child with autism."

The Autism Society of America defines autism as a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others.

The publishing effort by students at the Rte. 1 private school in Walpole coincided with the committee's distribution, to all town households, of a handbook for use in emergencies from flooding to a flu epidemic.

But while the committee's "Emergency Preparedness Handbook" is useful for many local residents, it is insufficient for all residents, Health Director Robin Chapell said.

In the event of an emergency, public safety officers must be able to communicate with all types of people, including nonverbal and non-English-speaking individuals, she said.

The League School "Communication Book" does precisely this; Chapell called the students' effort "perfect."

The book's laminated pages are filled with colorful images and symbols that assist police officers and firefighters in quickly learning information, or giving instructions. It offers a "huge array" of communication symbols, Principal Lisa Weedon said.

For example, on one page, the numbers 0 through 9 are clearly printed so that a non-verbal individual can answer questions like, "What is your address?"

On another page, a symbolic human body allows a nonverbal individual to point to a body part to answer the question, "Where are you hurting?"

Students chose which symbols to include, determined how many booklets needed to be made, and put the booklets together.

They employ a symbolic system developed by Mayer-Johnson, a San Diego-based education company. It is not the League School's first publishing project.

As part of the school's vocational training program, students participate in some type of professional-type situation several times a week. This may involve spending time at the school's store, in the kitchen, or in the publishing department.

Over the past three years or so, students have published hundreds of projects, large and small, according to teacher Andy Evans.

One earlier project produced the color-coded badges worn by all visitors to the school. Other products include colorful, symbolic guides to the school, complete with pictures of other students and teachers.

The Communication Book has drawn the attention of other towns throughout the region, according to Chapell. The Emergency Preparedness Committee is part of a regional consortium comprised of 34 similar community groups, Chapell said. The handbook potentially fills a communication niche in each one of them, she said.

The League School started in West Newton 40 years ago. It relocated to Rte. 1 in Walpole nine years ago. The private school currently educates children from ages 5 to 22, "across the autism spectrum," according to Weedon.

Some of the students will pass their 10th grade MCAS tests, earn their high school diplomas and go on to college, Weedon said. Others may not be capable of this, she added, but regardless, the goal of the school is "to try to focus on teaching the child in a natural setting."

Rather than monitoring student progress with clipboards and stopwatches, the school strives to prepare its students for the world beyond the school's walls. This might be the moment, each day, when a student is picked up by their parents. Or, this might be the moment they go on their first job interview.

"We pace the teaching individually," Evans said.