INCLUSIVE FAMILY
Coding: A Good
Career Path for
Autistic Children?
Out of
[theCoderSchool’s] first round of kid
coders a few years
ago, 13 went on to
get scholarships to
computer science and
cybersecurity programs
around the country.

22 Washington FAMILY JANUARY 2023
or parents of autistic children,
“learn to code” is not a snarky
rejoinder to the absence of com-
puter skills. It’s a legitimate suggestion for
a career path.

Many children who have autism spec-
trum disorder (ASD) struggle to find
employment once they come of age,
according to experts, who estimate most
American adults with autism cannot find
work. Now, hundreds of thousands of
teenagers with autism are maturing into
adulthood, and 10-15% of the population
now either has ADHD or autism. Yet, in
recent years, coding has developed into a
large-scale option for this community in
search of both employment and a place in
society. Tech companies have grown to like
the attention to detail and commitment to
repetition that often goes hand-in-hand
with autism, among other qualities.

And for area parents in Baltimore and
Washington, D.C. who are interested in
coding as a career for their child, there are
options for getting started down that path.

Chad Hamel opened a local branch of
national nonprofit theCoderSchool in Ash-
burn, Virginia three years ago. Today, the
school is helping almost 300 kids learn to
code. And Shelly McLaughlin, program
director for Pathfinders for Autism in
Hunt Valley, Maryland (the largest autism
research center in the state, which also
helps families who are looking for a spe-
cialist or other help for children with ASD),
notes how big of a help coding has been for
her own son.

“It’s not a token job. It’s an actual job,”
McLaughlin says of coding. “A lot of indi-
viduals with autism can become very
focused on something.”
Hamel and his wife opened theCoderSchool
because they saw that the activity could
make a difference for their son, Cooper.

Cooper had hydrocephalus, an abnormal
buildup of fluid in the brain, as a baby
and needed surgery at 3 months old. He
had some delays as a kid, Hamel says, but
learned to code in elementary school. His
parents immediately noticed a difference
in his self-esteem.

Now 8 years old, Cooper loves coding,
and his father describes him as “happy and
sweet” and “a whole different kid than he
was when he started kindergarten.”
So for their students at theCoder-
School, the Hamels take a similar approach
as to what they did with Cooper. Students
receive one-to-one or two-to-one training
and are able to tailor programs to their
interests. Some kids design their own ana-
lytic programs, while others are more into
art, Hamel says. The computer becomes
an intermediary between kids, who may
be uncertain of their social skills, and
coaches. But as time goes on, they all
work together.

“They have their coaches and they enjoy
that time. It’s a safe environment,” he says.

Out of the school’s first round of kid cod-
ers a few years ago, 13 of them went on to
get scholarships to computer science and
cybersecurity programs around the coun-
try. One student—who had never coded
before the program—earned a place in a
cybersecurity program at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia.

“They’ll come to us and do a free trial,
and we determine what their skill level is.

Some kids have never coded before. Some
have at other schools,” Hamel says. “We
talk through what their goals are.”
When McLaughlin’s son Hunter, who
has autism, was little, he would dump sets
of LEGO onto the table, examine the pieces
and find the one he needed, according to
his mother. Then, he would build a 4,000-
piece object, like the Death Star from “Star
Wars.” “And he would go to the next step
looking in the book, and it was like the
piece he needed just levitated,” she says.

It was that ability to focus, McLaughlin
CODER: METAMORWORKS /ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
F BY JARRAD SAFFREN



COURTESY OF THECODERSCHOOL
Classes at theCoderSchool can help
kids unlock untapped potential and
find their niche. In addition to Ashburn,
theCoderSchool has another location in
McLean, Virginia.

explains, that made Hunter a natural fit for
coding, too.

The Pathfinders program director has
noticed the same quality in autistic employ-
ees she has encountered at her center. One
of them is “low-verbal,” the director says,
meaning he rarely engages in verbal com-
munication. But he does data entry, and
he does it faster than a normal employee.

McLaughlin says no one else can keep
up with him.

An institution like theCoderSchool can
help a child get started, or as McLaughlin
explains, you can let your child lead the way.

Hunter taught himself to code by find-
ing classes and activities online, she says.

Once a child taps into their interest, it may
make sense to seek out a program in the
community, McLaughlin adds. Hunter later
attended a summer tech camp at a local
community college.

Data entry, like coding, is predictable.

It operates according to a routine. Other
humans are unpredictable, especially in
their use of non-verbal language, accord-
ing to McLaughlin. While the director says
she does not recommend the coding path
for all autistic children, she agrees it is
a great opportunity for many of them at
the moment.

“There’s a lot of interest in hiring individ-
uals with autism,” says Trish Kane, deputy
director of Pathfinders. 1
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