Autism Spectrum and College Admission?

<p>Apropos of nothing in particular, I'm trying to upgrade my understanding of autism spectrum behavior patterns and how they may influence college application prospects for some students. To the best of my knowledge and belief, I have no near or distant relatives with autism spectrum characteristics, so this is an issue I hear about from friends in either of the countries I have lived in and is NOT an issue I understand well. But in my nonprofit volunteer work questions about college destinations for young people with Asperger syndrome and other autism spectrum diagnoses come up, so I'd like to educate myself about what might be involved in college choice and college application for young people with those concerns. </p>

<p>Any and all thoughts and advice much appreciated. Links to helpful Web sites would be new to me, and might help me understand better the needs of some parents who send me inquiries.</p>

<p>You can find several threads discussing related issues on the "Learning Differences and Challenges" forum here at CC. Although "LD, ADD" appears in the forum title, that does not restrict discussion to only those two issues.</p>

<p>Given the changes in diagnostic methods during the past decade, combined with unusually high rates of autism/autism spectrum disorders, this is a topic that has been getting and will continue to get a lot of attention and as we see more and more students with Asperger's going to college.</p>

<p>The biggest problem of course is that there is a wide range in differences in abilities and issues among individuals on the spectrum even when limited only to Asperger's Syndrome, and AS is often accompanied with other learning disorders. And with the huge amount of information that is currently "out there" that it can be quite overwhelming for parents and students beginning the college application process to locate information that will be specifically helpful to them. </p>

<p>This CC thread specifically addresses college issues relating to Aspergers: </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=152928%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=152928&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>One book I would highly recommend for students and parents is: "Realizing the College Dream with Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success", by Ann Palmer, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (November 15, 2005) </p>

<p>One site I like: </p>

<p><a href="http://home.att.net/%7Ecoultervideo/index.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://home.att.net/~coultervideo/index.htm&lt;/a> This site is by parents of a student with Aspergers; their articles are first hand personal accounts which address many different issues relating Aspergers as well as the college experience for students with AS. See, eg, "First year at college, lessons learned", "Who's to know" on the issue of disclosure, "ASDs and Choosing College Courses" (I have not seen these, but the Coulters also offer a few videos geared for transitioning students to college and the workplace)</p>

<p>The following are some other favorites:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/education.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/education.html&lt;/a> This site for O.A.S.I.S. has links to many resources relating to autism including college issues</p>

<p><a href="http://www.professorsadvice.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.professorsadvice.com/&lt;/a> this is a site by a college professor on the spectrum which also includes some information about schools that might be good for students with AS from surveys he conducted; the number of schools is pretty limited but it points out some of the negatives as well as positive features about the schools that are frequently considerations for students with Aspergers.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/%7Ecns/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~cns/&lt;/a> University Students With Autism and Asperger's Syndrome, this is a site from the UK which includes several links and lists of other resources </p>

<p><a href="http://home.att.net/%7Ecoultervideo/FirstyrCollege.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://home.att.net/~coultervideo/FirstyrCollege.htm&lt;/a> Several useful first hand accounts by parents of an Aspergers student (I have not seen these, but the Coulters also offer a few videos geared for transitioning students to college students and the workforce)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.aspfi.org/college/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.aspfi.org/college/&lt;/a> Asperger Foundation International. This site has a link to schools for students with AS</p>

<p>Another book for college students with AS is: "Succeeding in College With Asperger Syndrome", by John Harpur, et al, Jessica Kingsley Publishers; Student edition (January 2004) This is written by a British author so it is not specifically tailored for American colleges but the general information is useful. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.wrongplanet.net/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wrongplanet.net/&lt;/a> is another site for individuals with autism/aspergers and includes a chat board/forum where people can post on different issues including college/school.</p>

<p>It took a bit of searching but here is a nice checklist I remembered seeing a while back on selecting colleges for students with AS:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.caseydixon.com/docs/IECA-Aspergers-chart.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.caseydixon.com/docs/IECA-Aspergers-chart.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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You can find several threads discussing related issues on the "Learning Differences and Challenges" forum here at CC.

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<p>Thanks for letting me know. I did a general forum search on the word "autism," but missed that forum.</p>

<p>All the replies here are helpful. If a Parents Forum moderator wants to move this thread to the Learning Differences and Challenges Forum, I'd be happy to continue the discussion over there.</p>

<p>Any links/books that relate to grad school application for Aspies out there? Do any of the aforementioned books have some advice?</p>