What are the best schools in the Northeast for someone with Asperger’s? We have heard great things about Mercyhurst in Pennsylvania and McDaniel in Maryland. Any other suggestions?
Have you checked out Landmark in Vermont? I have heard great things about it.
I would suggest purchasing a copy of this book. It’s organized by state and is very helpful in conjunction with a general guidebook. Lots of schools have special programs… a few in the northeast would be Marist, RIT, Landmark, Marshall…but the book lists many more!
The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Differences, 15th Edition: 325+ Schools with Programs or Services for Students with ADHD, ASD, or Learning Differences (College Admissions Guides) https://a.co/d/j5eWMXw
Anecdotal, but the son of very good friends of ours is ASD, and is now a senior at Denison College, and has been doing pretty well. The parents are pretty involved, and they would not have OKed it if they thought that their kid would have a difficult time there.
SO it may be worthwhile looking into.
Asperger’s includes a wide spectrum of characteristics. Many people with Asperger’s would be fine in a typical college setting, without any special support or accommodations… Others might benefit from mild support or assistance, or things like having the option for a single dorm room without roommate. For others, college would be near impossible without extreme support/accommodations, such as having the option to take all classes remotely while living at home. There is a lot of variation, rather than one college fits all kids with Asperger’s. It might be helpful to consider what types of situations might be challenging for your son and review whether desired colleges can assist in those situations.
You should obviously also consider things like which colleges will best support his planned major or career/academic goals? Which colleges offer ECs or other activities that interest him? What is your budget and which colleges meet that budget? And numerous other factors… besides just good for persons with Asperger’s.
Also note that Asperger’s was removed from DSM 9 years ago and is now grouped within ASD.
What are your son’s support needs, emotionally and academically? This will be the biggest determining factor of what to look for in a school/program. There are a lot of ASD programs out there; they can range anywhere from $3-$6k/ year and offer things like counseling, weekly check-ins and counseling sessions, academic coaching, EF coaching, etc. If he thinks this is more support than he needs, he may be ok with a school that offers very good support for all students. This is one of the reasons DD chose her school. They have a full ASD program, and although she didn’t feel she needed that level of support, she liked the idea of having a fallback in case she wasn’t adjusting well. She wanted a school that was very familiar with ASD and would advocate for her. They have a solid Academic Support Center and counseling offerings; they offer sevices to all students like sending an upper classman to class with a struggling freshman, then have the upper sit down and review the information with the freshman afterwards. She also chose to live in an engineering LLC (Living Learning Community) because the professors had offices on the first floor. There were classrooms downstairs as well, so she had some classes in her dorm. The TAs offered tutoring in the dorm Su-TH 6-10pm. This kind of gives you an idea of supports to look for, a school that tries to support the needs of all students is a good start. Here is a list of schools with a dedicated ASD program; it will give you a good starting point.
Let me know if I can answer any questions.
I agree with the post on variation within ASD and think we would need more information in order to be helpful.
Lesley has a Threshold program, just one example. But a kid with “Asperger’s” ( high end of ASD? Term no longer used…) might do well anywhere with the right supports and accommodations.
UConn has a pretty comprehensive program. I have heard good things about it from a family with a child that did very well academically in high school but had a few social stumbles along the way.
My ASD son attended RIT, and was very successful with their spectrum support
I believe that Marist College is known for its support services.
We used a college consultant that specializes in Aspergers, which is still the preferred description my son likes to be referred to. She was fantastic. Message me for her details. She met with our son, went over his testing and created a list of schools for him. We visited many of them and applied to five. We also used the K&W guide. ( I called the authors and got ideas of schools from them too). I was pleasantly surprised at how willing consultants were to help me in just that first phone call. Best of luck.
Small point- I think you mean the DSM-5 and the ICD-10 (which still had the term Asperger’s in it). But the ICD-11 took out Asperger and also incorporated it under the Autism Spectrum Disorder category.
Agree that there are many schools with varying levels of support for ASD students. Some have complete structured programs within the college.
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