By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer

For children who have a hard time fitting in and making friends because they have autism or other related conditions, a new haven in Savage is aiming to help them.

West Metro Learning Connections, a group that serves individuals who have Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) or other related conditions, opened in September.

A home on 150th Street has been transformed into a place where children can receive therapeutic education, recreation and fellowship.

“Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder have a hard time reading others and knowing how to react,” said Debra Schipper, West Metro Learning Connections CEO. “We bring them social skills that help them. We teach them how to make and keep friends and how to fit in and get along with others.”

West Metro Learning Connections specializes in helping individuals with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism. While people diagnosed with Asperger syndrome are similar to people with ASD, they often are more willing to make friends and have normal speech and intellectual development. West Metro House:
Al Arseneau and John
Turner write down
things that make them
feel different emotions.
They boys take a class
at a satellite home in
Savage of the West
Metro Learning
Connections

Often, Schipper said, they aren’t perceived well or accepted by their peers. “The fact that people can’t see the autism leads to misperceptions on other people’s part,” she explained.

What they’re seeing are missed social cues from people who sound and appear to be normal.

“If I were to ask an individual with ASD if they knew what time it was, their answer would likely be ‘yes.’ They wouldn’t think to expand on the answer and offer the time.”

A person with Asperger syndrome will often take an extreme interest in a subject matter.

“At any given moment, I am in the presence of experts,” Schipper said.

Conditions, though, often vary from one individual to the next and each characteristic will be at varying levels for each individual. However, there are some symptoms that can be counted on for all diagnosed individuals.

“Anxiety and ASD are almost synonymous,” Schipper said. “Here we want to keep anxiety as low as it can be so learning can be heightened. If you’re anxious, you lose your ability to learn.”

As teacher Debra Jensen walked through the house she pointed out the sensory room. The room features bright green plush carpet while a large hammock-style swing and bean bag take over one corner. In another area there is an oversized ball, similar to a yoga ball, where kids can roll around or have teachers give them a deep tissue shoulder massage. A colorful therapeutic steam roller is housed in another area.

The purpose of the room, Jensen said, is to get the kids’ sensory systems on high alert and their anxiety levels down.

Up the curved staircase, three bedrooms have been converted into classrooms; one for younger students, one for elementary to junior high aged children and the last for teens. The classrooms have small white boards and half-moon desks for the kids to crowd around.

Other areas of the home include a living room that has been converted to a waiting room for parents, complete with bookshelves and couches. A fireside room has been filled with toys for small children, but the kitchen remains a kitchen.

Schipper said having the site in a home is no accident, it’s meant to mimic a child’s home and be non-threatening.

For Jennifer Oxborough, the new location is helpful for her 11-year-old daughter, Sarah.

Sarah and Jennifer travel to Savage from New Prague to attend classes. While Sarah does not have an ASD, she has a non-verbal learning disorder.

Her mother explained she “has a really hard time getting info from things around her.”

A few years ago, before the Savage home opened, the two would travel to a Bloomington site, but they hadn’t enrolled in a class for two years.

“This is really a great location for us,” Jennifer said. “It was hard to run that far, but this is closer. The location makes a 4:30 class possible for us.”

Central to the success of classes is the routine.

“Everything we do, we keep a clear and constant routine so they know what to expect,” she said.

Focusing on social skills and building friendships in daily environments, children spend time doing classroom-type activities with a small group of other individuals with ASD or related conditions. Following the classroom time, they’re given the opportunity to practice those skills with each other.

At the main site in Excelsior, teenagers go out into the community to practice the skills they learned in “real-life scenarios,” Schipper said. They have not done that at the classes here, but they make friends with each other.

“She’s really excited about the class and wants to come,” Jennifer Oxborough said. “As Sarah’s become more aware of her own age, she has a really big interest in wanting to have friends … She’s interested in knowing these kids as potential friends.”

A new set of classes will begin in December for families interested in the home. For more information, call Schipper at (952) 474-0227.

 Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com.