Young adults with passions such as comic book drawing, graphic design, technical science writing and storm chasing spent five days together last week at Trinity University to learn social and independent life skills difficult for those with autistic spectrum disorder.

One wears noise-canceling headphones but still is engaged, one plays with a fidget spinner and speaks up about wanting to be a probation officer, and another can’t look at the teacher but still asks questions both simple and profound.

The classroom looks like any other but the lessons are about how to maintain eye contact, talk about interests while maintaining an appropriate length of speaking time, and appear like anyone else in interviews and social interactions.

The 14 participants in Summer on the Hill, a weeklong program for young adults between 18 and 26 with ASD, lived in dorms and spent their days learning to identify social cues and understand how their behavior can impact others.

They are physically capable of being independent but need help with symptoms that hinder social interaction. The program gives them a safe environment and surrounds them with people who know their situation, some of whom have lived it themselves.

Some participants who never could dream of living alone — or want to — now see the possibility and want to find better-paying jobs so they can, said Betty Williams, who joined as a teacher for the program in 2012, its second year.

Austin Hardeman said the lessons helped him make friends. He has a job at H-E-B and now can envision himself working as a graphic designer.

After several summers in the program, he has a mild temperament, is social, understands emotions of the participants and maintains eye contact. Several other repeat participants also have shed traits associated with autism and are noticeably further along than their counterparts who are in their first year, Williams pointed out.

Hardeman is among an inaugural group of three former participants who are volunteering as “liaison mentors,” extra help for the director and four other mentors.

“They like the program and want to be helpful,” so the organizers asked a few to be liaison mentors but they are considering ways to develop a more advanced set of training for these veterans, said Julie Little, the program director.

The other mentors, Trinity students in different departments, stayed with participants through the week, some to perform a community service and some to research a topic for an independent study course in the education department.

The program, now a collaboration of people from all over the city, was founded by Rita Kosnik, a Trinity University professor whose son, Andrew, was in his early 20s when she realized how few resources were available for young adults with autism. She set out to change that with Little, who had been a co-teacher for Kosnik’s son in middle and high school.

“It is geared toward young adults who just left high school, who are not ready for college,” Kosnik said. “We are reaching out to high schools and other organizations that work with spectrum disorder. After high school, a lot of those systems evaporate.”

Beginning six years ago, Spectrum Community, the nonprofit started by Kosnik, partnered with Trinity to teach independent lifestyle skills to young adults with autism spectrum disorder and give them a taste of college life.

The program costs $900 per participant, which covers supplies, Little’s pay and room and board.

During the week, Dema Stout, a coach for parents of children with autism, used sensory activities to teach the participants social cues. She had them close their eyes and be quiet for a full minute so they could be more conscious about how long they speak.

One day they used drums and maracas to talk to each other — one would drum and the other respond with a shake — to understand how interrupting one another can make for a cacophonous mess.

Kosnik, Little and Williams all said they can see ways the program could grow: It could be expanded to two weeks, spin off an advanced version, and its graduates could spend time mentoring junior high school students with ASD.

On the last night of the program, they bussed over to the San Antonio Clubhouse, a nonprofit serving adults with mental illness, where they each prepared their own three-course meal of crostinis, kebabs, fried rice and crepes. Everyone was involved in the meal prep and gathered in groups at the tables.

Afterward, they held a talent show, displaying painting and puzzle making to dancing and guitar playing. Stout said a common myth is that people with ASD, especially at a higher-functioning end that used to be considered Asperger syndrome, are great at computers, but the evening’s talent sharing showed a myriad of interests that don’t all fit in one box.

“A huge misconception is they don’t want to make friends and don’t want to have social lives,” Stout said. “Every single one of them want to make friends.”

jpolcyn@express-news.net