I have a son who has Asperger’s as well as Dysgraphia (writing disability), who has done well academically thanks to support he has been given in high school. Based on his performance, he should be admitted to most of the UC’s. Do any of the UC’s stand out in terms of support for kids on the Autism spectrum? Any recommendations for programs or support we can hire in order to help him with executive function issues? He doesn’t need help understanding material, but he does need to be reminded to stay on track and to follow through on assignments. Any advice or leads would be greatly appreciated. If you have a child on the spectrum who’s attending college, I’m sure you can relate to my trepidation.
I used to teach in the UC system at one of the smaller campuses. The most common accommodation that students had was extended time on tests and/or testing in a quiet environment, If I had students who required reminders to keep on track and do assignments, I was never aware of this. It is possible that there was a resource on campus that helped with this, but I was never made aware as a professor. I am curious to see others comments, but my sense is that it would be largely the student"s responsibility to keep on track. I am also the parent of a child with a physical disability (hearing loss) who is a college freshman, and can tell you that it is up to the student to seek accommodations. My son has refused to seek classroom accommodations. Even though I think it would help him, I can’t make him do it. So far he has done fine his first semester. I think being at a smaller school has helped. His largest class has 24 students.
My daughter with Asperger’s just started at UCLA this fall and made it through the quarter successfully. However, she doesn’t have executive function issues, so was able to stay on track ok. She did get behind on some assignments, mostly because in the quarter system things move very quickly. She ended up taking an Incomplete in one class, but has already finished the work and should end up with a decent grade in that class. She managed to advocate for herself in that class by working things out with the TA regarding necessary accommodations. As far as I know, none of the UC’s have specific autism support programs, although I think there used to be one at Berkeley. There is the College Internship Program (CIP) in Berkeley and Long Beach which provides support to those on the spectrum and might be worth investigating.
Nephew with Asperger’s went to UC Santa Cruz and had good experience. Only accommodation I heard about was a single room, but his dad says office of disabilities was pretty decent to work with.
Not a UC but I’ve heard Santa Clara University has good support.
Thanks everyone for your input. We still have much to consider and research, and I appreciate the input.
No experience with UC schools, but in general I would recommend calling the Office of Disability Support at any school of interest to speak directly with a counselor there. They can give you a sense of what services are typically offered, as well as additional campus resources. Of course in a perfect world your student would make these calls, but at this point I think it’s okay for a parent to do the initial fact-finding if necessary. (Or maybe you split the difference by helping to craft an email and having your kid be the one to mail it out.)
When my Aspie began dual enrollment this fall, he got the whole dog and pony show from Disability and was actually sort of insulted (hahaha; I assume fellow ASD parents will see the humor here) by all they offered. For example: he has a lot of executive functioning issues, and obviously the added reminders and check-ins he gets from teachers at the high school he can’t have at college, but he was strongly encouraged to set up a weekly meeting with his Disability advisor to go over his calendar and due dates. (He declined and I bit my tongue.) This particular (giant) university also offers two different ASD support groups, one for general sort of life-skill building (my son felt this was more support than he needed) and another as a more social/group therapy kind of thing (he also opted not to attend this one, but grudgingly admitted it was a nice idea).
My son also has dysgraphia and had no problems being granted both official note-takers in his classes and permission to use his laptop in class for note-taking if he liked. He was also offered a Smartpen, which he doesn’t like (but which is a neat piece of technology IMHO), but his sister – who has some LDs but not dysgraphia – has been using her Disability-granted Smartpen as a freshman at a different uni and finds it very helpful.
I suspect you will find the UC schools all have similar, but not identical, support. Questions to ask: Do they have staff who specialize in ASD? Approximately what percentage of students at the school are on the spectrum? What are typical supports offered? What other options are there/how flexible are they in terms of atypical supports? Does a student have the same counselor all the way through or do they change? Etc. Personally, I have been impressed at both schools with the approach of “try everything and see what works” (like being able to both use the laptop AND get official notes) rather than a sort of “here is your one official accommodation.” Good luck!
I do not know about specific resources but UCLA has a large Counseling and Psychological Resource Program (CAPS) where he can get assistance from. Housing also can provide accommodations (ie single room guaranteed if he wants). Classes are large and I have found them to be pretty impersonal so creating a relationship with the TA is essential at any UC since that is the link to the professor. Many TAs will accommodate if the student has any disabilities and are really nice and understanding.
@10s4life, that has been my daughter’s experience so far at UCLA with her TAs. She declined to get a single room as of now, and seems to be managing fine in a triple (she really lucked out with understanding roommates). The only service she has gotten so far from the Disabilities Office (now known as the Center for Accessible Education) is priority registration for classes.
@Mom2jl That’s good to hear she’s doing well in a typical set up. I live in a classic which can get pretty rowdy. The priority registration as you probably already know is a huge help. Getting patient and understanding professors can really make a difference in these kind of circumstances.
@Physicsphun16 If your son chooses to attend UCLA make sure to attend bruin day where you can get a residential housing tour. If he needs his own quiet space to unwind a suite such as Hitch or Saxon offer privacy and seclusion from the hill. Plazas and Residential Halls are high rise style and are super chaotic even if it’s a single due to the close proximity of all the students. The residential assistants also can help with the transition and are almost always on duty to help any students with things they may need or if they need to talk. The RAs are also trained with basic counseling. You mentioned he needs help with staying on track etc and if you do not want to use university support, I’ve found that rooming with students with the same major helps with that. You end up taking mostly the same classes and can help keep each other accountable. Each year a Facebook group is formed for admitted students and you can find roommates there.
I’ve been reading your your responses with great interest and you’ve al been incredibly helpful. What a wonderful community. Thank you!
yankeeinGA, can you disclose which schools you’re talking about?
You mentioned one that offers 2 kinds of programs for ASD – one program for low-functioning autism offering life skills, like an IDD program AND a program with social support for high-functioning autism or Asperger’s.
No school in the University of California system specifically offers a program for college students with autism or Asperger’s. They all have general disability accommodations. CIP is an outside program that’s in Berkeley (and a few other places in the US) and provides wraparound transition support to students for a very high fee. Those students have to live off campus in CIP’s building to participate.
@Alv123 The school I was discussing is UGA – with 35k undergraduates, they seem to have the most extensive set of resources for ASD we’ve seen (other than schools with specific supplemental programs in place), perhaps because it’s just such a large school. Bear in mind, though, that both of those options are just weekly support groups. It’s not the same as a school that offers a school-run “here’s our special program for those on the spectrum.”
But even my daughter’s college – which has around 5,500 undergrads – has offered similar classroom supports through the Office of Disability Services. They don’t have a large enough ASD population for those support groups, though.
Watching this as I have a 9 year old with autism, dyslexia, and intellectual giftedness- that’s a fun combo. Is there a reason you’re looking at just UC’s? A UC seems so big to me for a kind on the spectrum. There are some universities doing amazing things to include spectrum kids- http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/10-impressive-special-college-programs-for-students-with-autism/
I don’t know about the OP’s reasons for looking at the UCs, but my daughter really wanted to go to a big school, and specifically to UCLA. I also thought it seemed way too big for someone like her, but she doesn’t seem to be fazed by the size, and, in fact, loves that it’s a really big campus, so there’s plenty of space for her to wander around and be away from the crowds if she wants to be. It’s also located less than an hour from where we live and is more affordable for us than smaller private schools would have been (the two schools she was choosing between were UCLA and Harvey Mudd). When she was applying to colleges last year, I was really wishing we lived closer to some of the colleges/universities with great autism support programs, but most of them are located far away from us and neither she nor we wanted her to go that far from home.
Just want to say that the list above of programs for ASD is out of date. These programs come and go quickly, and they may dramatically change depending on who is running the program and the current budget. (I know this because I created/ran one of the programs on that list.) Sometimes a program can start, seeded from a grant. Once the grant runs out the university may be reluctant to fund the program. Your best bet is to try to talk to a family which is CURRENTLY enrolled in the program at hand.