Back in elementary school, Gus Psaros was diagnosed with autism but making steady progress through a range of therapies. “He was blending right in. He was playing the piano,” his father, Harry Psaros, recounted last week.
Then Gus took a tumble down the stairs and suffered a severe concussion. Harry got the call about the injury and its effects from his wife, Michelle, while he was in Chicago on a business trip. “I had to walk off into a corner because I was sobbing,” Harry said.
“And we lost two full years, to the point where he couldn’t even remember how to play the piano,” Harry said. Gus fell into what his father calls an “autism fog” in which he talked about just one topic: cars. “You do wonder, are we now in this abyss? Is my child ever going to leave this abyss?”
That fall and subsequent recovery — marked by many therapies and the family’s relentless optimism — are a centerpiece of Harry’s two-year-old book, “From Struggle to Strength: A Father’s Journey with Autism and the Power of Hope and Positivity.” The book is getting a second wind as Harry pounds the podcast circuit.
And on May 9, Gus, now 22, graduated from Kent State University with a degree in exercise science. He’s on his way to grad school, also at Kent State.
That puts Gus, of McDonald, in relatively rare company.
A recent review of research put the number of autistic four-year college students in the U.S. at somewhere between 135,000 and 286,000 (roughly 0.8% to 1.8% of undergrads). By comparison, studies show that around 3% of 8-year-olds are on the spectrum, suggesting that autism remains underrepresented on campuses. Young adults with disabilities of all kinds are around half as likely (22%) as non-disabled peers (43%) to have bachelor’s degrees.
Pittsburgh’s Public Source asked Gus and Harry about the path to, and through, the college experience, and what comes next.
Setting the bar
After the fall, the family tried many therapy regimens, some of which were “a swing and a miss,” said Harry. Eventually one process, called Brain Balance, clicked for Gus.
“I felt very comfortable in high school,” said Gus, who went to West Allegheny. “I was thriving academically. That’s something I was always good with. I talked to a lot of people there as well. I remained social. … I definitely saw myself going to college, which I did.”
Harry and Michelle worked with Gus to lay out goals, which eventually developed into what the family calls a “vision board” – not a physical board, but a big-picture list etched in their minds: college degree, Dodge Ram truck, secondary degree, job and marriage.
Picking the place
Harry is a Pitt guy, and Michelle thought Gus would end up at a Pittsburgh university. But nearby Kent State showed up on some lists of the best colleges for people with autism thanks to its College Experience for Students with IDD and Autism career and community studies program and system of pairing students with mentors.
“Within 10 minutes of leaving he looks at me and goes, ‘Dad, you know I’m going there, right?’” Harry recounted.
Seeking accommodations
Kent State has a Student Accessibility Services office, and Gus checked in. The office helps to make arrangements to make college more welcoming for people with disabilities.
“The one thing I had was testing accommodations, which was something that definitely came in handy during my time there,” he said. He couldn’t handle taking tests “sitting with everybody else in a larger classroom. I was in a smaller, group testing space which was silent. There was no one talking. It was dead silent. It was so much better.”
Finding friends
By definition, autism affects interaction, communication and social skills.
“At the beginning, or within at least the first year, it was definitely rather difficult,” said Gus. “But I think once I got to sophomore year and beyond there, I was able to, at least within the classroom setting, interact with more of my peers and it got more comfortable as time went on.”
“Gus admitted to me, he struggled meeting people,” said Harry. “We’re just proud of what he’s done and he’s amazing.”
Gus got along fine with his first-year roommate, but that friend dropped out. He found that another young man on the spectrum, also a West Allegheny grad, was at Kent State. Their parents arranged an apartment for them, and they roomed together for two years.
Changing course if needed
Gus went in majoring in architecture. It didn’t fit.
“You’re sitting around at a desk for just hours upon hours upon hours, and I said to myself, that was something that was just not for me,” Gus said. “I wanted something that was more hands-on, interacting with people, and I knew that within the exercise science department, it was the perfect switch.”
Exercise science? “You learn about the physiology of exercise, there was biomechanics, we had exercise programming, you learned about a lot of different training programs that can be done with individuals, anatomy and physiology.”
In August, he’ll start a graduate program leading to work as a physical therapy assistant. “There will be a lot of clinical rotations,” said Gus. “And then obviously from there I’ll be looking for jobs and applying somewhere around here, locally.”
Harry’s eyeing that vision board. “I’m trying to get him to date, but he wants to wait until he has a job,” the father said.
Enjoying the moment
Graduation “was obviously a great feeling, walking across that stage knowing I got that diploma,” said Gus.
A few days later, the family bought him the Dodge Ram he’d been dreaming of for eight years. “I go to auto shows every year, and the more and more I looked at them, the more and more I liked them and knew that this was my favorite brand,” Gus said. “And I knew from there that I had to have one, and here it is.”
This summer, he’ll take a trip with his brother, Max, to Bethany Beach, Delaware, and occasionally join his father as a messenger to other families contending with autism.
“For anyone else who may be on the spectrum, there is hope, things can be done,” said Gus.
Not everyone is as fortunate
Many of the therapies the Psaros family tried aren’t covered by health insurance, and aren’t cheap.
“All of this costs money,” said Harry, who gives back as a board member at the Autism Caring Center and is one of the founders of North Fayette Providing Assistance, Love, and Support (PALS), which helps households with members who have special needs. “If you’re a millionaire or you’re a guy who’s living in a trailer park, struggling, let’s say working at Home Depot, this [millionaire] guy’s kid is going to go a bit further.”
Regardless of resources, Harry said, fathers of children with autism can join the pantheon of heroic moms and make a huge difference. How? Don’t deny the challenge. Don’t get overwhelmed. Pick one thing, every day, that you can help your child to improve on, even just a little bit, he said. “You should be honored that you’ve been handed a child that might need a little bit of extra help …” Harry said, “and for you not to help them is a disservice.”
Rich Lord is the managing editor at Pittsburgh’s Public Source, last year wrote the series “Job One: How young people with special needs enter the workforce,” and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org.
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