Staff Writer
Julie van der Poel began her career in the IT industry, where over the course of a decade she wrote user documentation and training programs, developed and managed an educational services department, and eventually headed up a marketing team for an internet startup. Her somewhat accidental career shift towards special education came about during her six-year stint as an expat in Europe. Out of necessity, she became a full-time advocate and teaching support for her young son while they lived in Amsterdam. A move to London found Julie working with high school seniors in her son’s special needs school. It was this experience that fueled Julie’s passion for transition issues facing students with developmental and learning disabilities. Upon returning to the United States, Julie became an Independent Living Skills Instructor for postsecondary students. In this role, Julie developed curriculum and taught students everything from money handling and budgeting, to nutrition and household management.
Julie attended Georgia Tech where she earned a B.S. in Management. Julie now resides in Washington, DC with her family and two labradoodles. When she is not writing for Autism After 16, she spends most of her time ensuring that her 16-year-old son with Autism Spectrum Disorder and his exceptionally bright 8-year-old sister are getting appropriate educations.
In an earlier column, I mentioned that Cameron was participating in a mentoring program with the Gallup organization, coordinated by Special Olympics.
No. Just two little letters. So easy to spell, but so hard to say. At least for me anyway.
We're that family. That one that has dinner together every night, at an actual table, and the adults at the table do their best to get the offspring to converse.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, what better time is there to cuddle up with a warm and cozy homemade cliché?
Cameron is a source of unending surprises. I am constantly surprised by his ability to answer the most open ended questions imaginable with a one word answer.
Cameron is usually so far off in one direction or another from any other ASD person that I’ve started referring to it as the Autism “galaxy” as opposed to “community.”
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When I graduated from college, I found out quickly that to support myself in the “real world” I would have to work two jobs.
April wasn’t only Autism Awareness Month. It was National Stress Awareness Month too. Coincidence?
Part II of our story on autistic adults living in rural America.
Friday night, Cameron attended his high school prom. This wasn’t his first prom, as his school invites all high school students to attend each year, and Cameron had attended the year before...
Our family originally qualified for Supplementary Security income for Cody when he was four years old. I was a single mother, not working at the time and my husband, Bill,
At present, I’m not a parent. I don’t have a son or daughter of my own, but if ever I do, I have a very specific item at the top of my parenting to-do list.
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