<p>Fairleigh Dickenson has a GREAT learning disabilities program. In fact, it is listed in every book that recommends colleges for kids with learning disabilities. They provide tutoring, extra time, supports and much more.</p>
<p>I have to be honest with you. I know a few parents with Asperger kids. Almost all of these kids were either unemployed or underemployed after college. Be prepared for this situation.</p>
<p>Missypie, I have read all of your postsā¦read them last year and reread them in December and again yesterday. Laughed at your exchange about jobs rereading books and playing a video gameā¦how about a third job of walking around and talking out loud to sort things out? He was limited to 12 hours this past semester and was taking a class in his new majorā¦was history, now communicationsā¦and for his science requirement, intro to forensicsā¦criminal justice was one of those careers that showed up on his interest surveys in hs. D that was posted in that classā¦sigh. He was interested in the class, had one major paper due so no other pesky assignments to not complete or turn in lateā¦three tests and final. Ended up with a 68%. He was exploring adding a certificate in sports business admin so the summer class he is taking right now is Sociology of Sportā¦two classes in, loves prof, book and class. Watched Hoop Dreams in last class and has paper due for Mondayā¦will have two more of those and two take home exams by end of June. He is lifeguarding again this summer so will start work next weekend. Second class this summer will be beginning English compā¦he placed into the rhetoric class first semester and failed it. Prof a bit arrogant and unwilling to provide help or commentsā¦ds said prof hated him. Odd because usually had good rapport with adults, just peer interaction a struggle. More to comeā¦have to run. Thanks so much for your reply.</p>
<p>I know that everyone is sincerely trying to be helpful when they suggest other universities with great disabilities programs, but please realize that in once our smart kids donāt do well as college freshmen, the options become limited, at least in the short term. That terrific HS GPA, that terrific SAT score, those terrific HS ECs mean nothing when filling out that college transfer app. What do they want to know? College GPA. The SAT is supposed to be a predictor of how they will do in college. But once they have a year under their belt, no need to pay attention to the 2200 SAT when thecollege 2.0 tells the real story.</p>
<p>Once freshman year goes badly, the options are pretty much (1) return to original school (now or after a LOA), if allowed, or (2) go to a cc or somewhere else not very selective to get the GPA up with hopes of transferring later. </p>
<p>In addition, many students need merit aid to go to some of these schools. The merit aid the student would have been offered right out of HS is not available for the transfer with a low GPA.</p>
<p>ddd, you have probably already thought of this, but if your son doesnāt return to his original school next year, make sure he takes a leave of absence next year instead of totally withdrawing.</p>
<p>One thing that you and your son need to realize (that you will have heard before if you have read my other posts) is that he will NOT be the only one not returning to his school next year. There may be kids from his class who didnāt return after 1st semester. Itās not something that any tend to talk about, but once one parent opens up, others feel free to share, and you will find that lots of kids are coming home and/or changing schools, for myriad reasons.</p>
<p>taxguy ā I, too, know several college graduates on the spectrum. Most are working at jobs their parents helped them get, jobs that donāt require a college education. That is sobering.</p>
<p>For those students who do well in a STEM curriculum, computer science might be a good option. There is a running joke among software engineers that a lot of them are on the spectrum. Also, some of those jobs do not require a great deal of social interaction, and it helps to be able to hyperfocus (if thatās a verb) on debugging.</p>
<p>Another thing to point out is that some people with Aspergers have Executive Function Disorder and others donāt. Many people with ADD have Executive Function Disorder but are not on the spectrum.</p>
<p>Those without Executive Function Disorder have social problems, but may do fine - or even very well - acedemically. The problem will not be with earning the degree, but with getting and/or keeping the job.</p>
<p>My son has an Aspie friend who is his age who will earn his college degree on schedule, in 4 years. Heās the kind of guy that the minute you meet him you know that he must have *some kind *of diagnosis. He just isnāt going to be able to have a job where he has to interact with many people.</p>
<p>My son, on the other hand, has minor social issues but severe Executive Function Disorder. If he is ever able to earn a degree, he will probably be able to keep a job.</p>
<p>We were told when Son was in elem school, that the Aspie kid either has the neatest desk in the class or the messiest. Son had the messiest. I really think that if the government wants to make a dent in the issue of males having such a low college graduation rate, they should just look at the desks of 4th grade boys and start the Executive Function coaching with the messiest of them right then and there.</p>
<p>Lots of people have read House Rules. The character in that book had lots of issues related to austism, but was meticulous with his school work. The issues of those types of folks are legitimate and daunting, but are different from the students with the EF issues.</p>
<p>I think another factor that can be difficult is that some college-bound children with autism want the full college experience. They want to choose a college that they like, go away from home, and live in a dorm. Their classmates are doing that, and they donāt want to be different. (Note: I said some, not all; some students with autism donāt care what everyone else does.)</p>
<p>Also, this is where treating oneās children differently can cause some conflict. What parameters do you set down for one child that you might not have established for an older sibling? If parents allowed an older child to go anywhere he/she wanted or anywhere they could pay for without incurring debt, it may be a challenge to explain to a child with autism that he/she has to be within 1-2 hoursā drive or maybe even go to community college.</p>
<p>Parents have to take hard positions that might not be well-received, but as our children reach 18 we have to figure out a balance. I donāt know where that is.</p>
<p>missypie ā In my immediate family, the males (including my son with autism) are the neat ones, and the females are messy and disorganized. I think the Executive Function coaching needs to be directed just as much toward girls. :)</p>
<p>Iām very interested in your Executive Function Disorder information; itās something I didnāt know about. I know that every person with autism is different, but each person Iāve known who is on the spectrum is one of two types ā ADHDish (canāt stay organized) or OCDish (obsessively organized and doesnāt like things out of place). The level of social functioning is another thing altogether and doesnāt seem to correlate with one or the other.</p>
<p>Some more infoā¦he had actually accepted a spot at Mercyhurst, with genreous scholarship money, grrr!, when we decided to visit his current school. He felt it a better fit and the disability services department provided all the same services, just not enrolled in or paying extra for a programā¦which would have provided nice scaffolding we could have removed, but alas, regrets. We were concerned about Erie as a location, the weather being so different and no hockey for him as both Club and D1 hockey well above his skill level. Plus, Mercyhurst is on trimesters and even though nice to take fewer classes at a time, the coursework is more intense with tighter deadlines. He has been very happy at SLU, the disabilities manager worked with him as an EF coach. His poor grades first semester were mostly due to missing work, in some cases so much missing, were surprised he passed the classā¦ so we focused on that piece of the puzzle this semester. When test scores were low, we encouraged him to pursue notetakers as felt his visual learning style was inhibiting good notesā¦he didnāt except for one class where he got a former studentās outlines. He did attend all classes and turned most work in on time, some late work for half credit and one paper dropped a letter grade. He does not drink and has good relationships with his hockey teammates but not his roommates, who Iām not sure ever figured him out. He did spend more time academically, just not sure of the quality of that time. Venture to guess off time, esp once hockey season ended, was video games and skyping with now ex-girlfriend.</p>
<p>Missypie, I wondered if we could ask for a leave and it looks like the school allows and he loses the little scholarship he had anyway because of his gradesā¦although I do worry about the loss of student status for health and car insurance. Once all his grades are in, by 6 pm today, we will work on a decision. I donāt think it makes sense with Cs and Ds but maybe a couple Bs mean getting off probationā¦and he only gets one more semester to do so. Seems like it would feel a bit like leaving with tail between legs at midyearā¦and he is ineligible for hockey if on probation. I wish he had a passion we could exploitā¦just lots of little interests. keeping fingers crossed for good news on the grade front, if even to explore a transfer.</p>
<p>Correct me if Iām wrong, but canāt we all keep our kids on our health insurance until theyāre 26 now, whether or not they are students?</p>
<p>missypie,you are rightā¦kids can stay on their parents insurance until they are 26 even if they are not in schoolā¦dd928ā¦When my son was a freshman at a small 2 year college in Gaā¦it was a struggle even with the ADHD support program he was in.He would have never made it with out it! After he graduated from Andrew he went on to the U of Alabama.He just finished up his JR year!! He is a support program called UA-ACTS.Again without the support he would have never made it!! We have seen alot of growth this year!! His mentor really worked with him on social and anxiety issues.He started out rough but ended strong!!With my son I take things one semester at a time.He has three semesterās left at UA.Then after that we will see were life takes him???</p>
<p>taxguyā¦I also know some people with AS who have college degreeās and no job.I am worried about but I know he has no chance at all with out one. One reason that he in the UA-ACTS program is because the are teaching him life skills that can help him after college.I am hoping next summer he will be able to get a intership thru the WRP program.They will be coming to UA in the Fall for interviews.</p>
<p>My big regret is not knowing about UA-ACTS when Son was looking at schools. His stats were good enought that out of HS could could have received in state tution. Now weād have to pay full price OOS, plus the cost of the program.</p>
<p>missypieā¦my son did not have the HS grades to get in. He was able to get in after he graduated from Andrew College here in GA. Have you looked into Voc Rehab? They are paying part of his tution and for his books.Because they recieve funds form the state and federal level they have help even if you go out of state.</p>
<p>So a B, 2Cs and a D ā¦now his cumulative GPA is 1.46. Now we start discussions about a leave or returning.</p>
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<p>We took him to the state Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS). The guy looked at his psych eval (which includes IQ scores, I guess), said was smart enough to do whatever he wanted to do, recommended a Masters in Library Science, wished us the best and wouldnāt even open a file on him. Any tips would be appreciated.</p>
<p>This thread inspired me to want to pursue one idea a little further ā the pros and cons of community college vs. immediate four-year school, for kids with LDs. I donāt want to hijack, and the new thread may interest or concern some additional people, so Iāll start a new one. Please find it and comment, if you wish.</p>
<p>Thatās a good idea fieldsportsā¦ I looked for the thread and didnāt find it, so I guess you didnāt make it yet. I have AS and LDs and went the CC to state university routeā¦ it had some major positives, but some huge unintended consequences as well so itās definitely a discussion worth having.</p>
<p>The thread went up at 12:31 ā āpros and cons of CCā.</p>
<p>missypie,I would get on the internet and read your state voc rehab regulations.Then I would go above his head.My son has a āabove averageā IQ. A friend of mine, her son has just ADHD and he gets support.The first voc rehab guy we had told us all knd of wrong things like they would pay for only a school 50 miles from home and they would never pay for out of state. He was let go soon after.My son has a really great advocate now, she has help get us get the support he needs.The more you know the regulations the better off you are. I called the head guy in Atlanta to ask questions.It shoud not matter about your sonās IQ.Also read the federal guidelines.I belive it is under voc rehab or dept of labor.</p>
<p>I cannot add anything to this thread other than this link to a panel discussion on WCVE (Richmond, VA PBS) on ĀSupporting College Students with AspergerĀs Syndrome for Success.Ā The discussion was recorded earlier this month, but does not actually air until tomorrow (5/20) @ 6:00PM EDT. I have not listened to it, but remembered hearing about it and thought that it may be of some interest.
Main Story here:
[Panel</a> Discussion: Supporting College Students with Asperger?s for Success | ideastations.org](<a href=āhttp://ideastations.org/articles/panel-discussion-supporting-college-students-with-asperger-s-for-success-2012-05-09]Panelā>http://ideastations.org/articles/panel-discussion-supporting-college-students-with-asperger-s-for-success-2012-05-09)</p>
<p>Already posted on-line discussion:
[WCVE</a> Forum: ?Supporting College Students with Aspergerās Syndrome for Success? | ideastations.org](<a href=āhttp://ideastations.org/radio/archive/2012-05-20-wcve-forum-supporting-college-students-with-aspergers-syndrome-for-success]WCVEā>http://ideastations.org/radio/archive/2012-05-20-wcve-forum-supporting-college-students-with-aspergers-syndrome-for-success)</p>