Jeffrey Kraus, an RWC student in Electronic Media Technology, might also answer to “J.D. Kraus,” his pen name. Unlike most students, Kraus has accomplished a respectable feat: authoring a widely distributed book.His book, “The Aspie Teen’s Survival Guide: Candid Advice for Teens, Tweens, and Parents, from a Young Man with Asperger’s Syndrome,” was just released September 30 with over 1,100 pre-orders.
Kraus lives with a condition known as Asperger’s syndrome, often considered a high-functioning form of autism. According to Medterms.com, this is a “pervasive developmental disorder that is characterized by an inability to understand how to interact socially.” This can lead to clumsy, uncoordinated motor movements, speech peculiarities, and communication problems. People with Asperger’s syndrome sometimes refer to themselves as “Aspies” and tend to live in their own world, seemingly preoccupied with their own agenda.
Kraus experienced a lot of hardship before college, where he felt teachers were prejudiced and seemingly did not care to understand his condition.
“I just feel my story needs to be told to people who have Asperger’s or need to hear the truth,” he said.
Kraus did have good things to say about RWC’s faculty. “John Kraimer really has helped me out,” he said. “I have not met one bad teacher.”
He is currently pursuing a media-based future in video post-production, animation, and 3D modeling, and is very happy to be a part of the RWC eMedia program. “It’s been almost a safe haven for me to come here because I kind of feel accepted. I feel like I belong here,” he said.
He began writing the book in his freshman year of high school and again during his senior year, when Dave Cummings, an English teacher for Warren County Career Center in Lebanon, Ohio, saw great potential in Kraus as an author.
“I just gave it to him and he made suggestions,” Kraus recollected, crediting Cummings as the most valuable person in helping him write the book.
One year later, when Kraus was 19 years old, he gave the book to Future Horizons, Inc., a publisher devoted to autism and Asperger’s Syndrome awareness, and it was released two years later in 2010.
The Teen Aspie Survival Guide can be found in major retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com for a retail price of $19.95, but it can go as low as $13 on sale.
Kraus is currently considering his future as an author. “If I do write a second book, it’ll be about my experiences in college and how to help people with my condition and how to prepare for college and survive it.