Shepherding is one of the oldest professions known to mankind.His life’s calling is to keep all the sheep accounted for, supervise their migration from pasture to pasture, assure them plentiful food and water, and to protect them from all danger, including inclement weather, harsh terrain, and wild beasts. This demands utmost dedication.

As I hit the fall running, one word keeps coming to mind. Advocacy.

Do not be sheepish about advocating for your child. Even those who have special education degrees are often very unaware of what the life of an individual on the spectrum is like. You are there to remind them.

Stephanie Harris is a university student on the east Coast who shares her experience as a voluntary mentor for a college student with Asperger’s Syndrome.

After spending my entire summer at home working with individuals diagnosed with Autism, I decided I wanted to continue my involvement with this population while I was attending college. I contacted the Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center (SPARC) with my background and availability. It was decided that I would be a good match for the Peer Mentoring Program which is a volunteer position with a one hour per week minimum requirement. I was paired with an adolescent college student who is one year older than I am.

Brendon’s mother met with me prior to my first meeting with him. She informed me about her son’s history as well as his interests. She gave me his cell phone number, and it was up to me to plan activities and arrange meeting times and places with him. I was eager to take on this task. Of course I was very anxious because I was not sure how he would react to me since I was a stranger to him.

The first time I called his phone, but he did not answer. I left a voicemail, and waited for him to call me back. After a few days and no response, I contacted his mother who informed me that Brendon wasn’t very good at returning phone calls and that it is something they were working on. She had him call me back and we made plans to go out for coffee. Based on my previous experience with individuals with Autism, I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the house and into the community. I was open for suggestions, but he said we could go anywhere. I picked Brendon up from his father’s house where I met him and his father for the first time. It almost felt like I was picking him up for a date since I had to meet the father before I took his son out for the night. I was a little nervous because I wanted to make sure the father would trust me with his youngest son. After all, I really was a complete stranger to the whole family.