Joel Hedegaard

Social dimensions of learning – the experience of young adult students with Asperger syndrome at a supported IT education

The purpose of this paper is to describe how young adults with Asperger syndrome experience an educational project called ‘the IT-track’. The methods used included participant observation and research interviews. The results were interpreted within the theoretical framework described by ‘Supported Education’ (SED). The most prominent experience among the students was social learning. Students describe that they gradually began to function better socially with others and developed various abilities, such as asking for help, and talking to groups.The teachers emerged in the interviews as the single most important source of support as they formed the basis of two key points of SED. Overall, studying at the IT-track resulted in the students extending their horizons of possibility by breaking away from their previous sense of isolation which was marked by idleness and loneliness. By participating at the IT-track, the students’ sense of participation and meaningfulness increased.