<p>“I know of a <em>lot</em> of cases where Aspies were first diagnosed as ADHD-Inattentive. You may think there is a chasm of difference between ADHD-I and Aspergers, but somehow clinicians are not seeing this difference”</p>
<p>lots of things look like each other, esp in young kids ADHD and social anxiety disorder, ADHD and OCD, ADHD and Bipolar. ADHD can’t be all the things it looks like.</p>
<p>And there are misdiagnoses, of course. I know of one case where the first psychologist who looked at the problems in preschool, diagnosed a spectrum disorder (Atypical development disorder). The father, a lay person, said “no way, it can’t be” He had ADHD himself, and discussed it with HIS therapist, who agreed it might be ADHD. The kid was taken to a first class psych tester who confirmed ADHD. Every professional she has seen since has confirmed its ADHD and not a spectrum disorder. The mom always asks, cause she still hasn’t shaken that stuff from preschool. The dad wishes he could get some of the money spent on professionals back. Especially the first one with her careless diagnosis.</p>
<p>I think it is very important to get the correct diagnosis of whatever your child presents with in order to get the right placement and figure out what is needed for college. Aspergers is not the same as NLD. Aspergers kids are highly intelligent, keenly focused on their specific areas of interest, and lack the smooth social communication interaction of typical peers. </p>
<p>By the time your child reaches the age of college, after years of IEPs and learning to advocate for themselves, the best thing you can do as a parent is to figure out your child’s strengths and specialized areas of high academic interest, then find a college which offers a program to match your child’s personality. It is a hard step for parents, but by the time your child is now a grown up 18 year old adult, you have to let go and let the child find his way at school, advocate for the supports he needs, and figure out how to reach his potential.</p>
<p>I personally think smaller classes are preferable and the need to look for a university which offers single rooms on a quiet floor.</p>
<p>Other academic areas of need are best documented by a professional and dealt with by your child (not the parent) at the school’s disability office.</p>
<p>Ah, but there’s the rub. Kids who can’t self-advocate are required to self-advocate. I’ve used this example before, but it’s like telling the quadriplegic come get this state of the art wheelchair, it’s right at the top of the stairs. </p>
<p>The person in a wheelchair will need a wheelchair at 16 or 18 or 20; the person with executive function issues will need help at 16 or 18 or 20.</p>
<p>Missypie: If you have any concerns about your child’s need to advocate for himself, then make sure this area is addressed in the transition plan of the senior year of high school IEP. You might also want to find out how good the disability office is at the universities under consideration. My understanding is the child must take the first step at the university disability office and sign in with documentation in order to access services. The university is under no obligation to make accomodations because of parents stepping in on behalf of their child.</p>
<p>No IEP in HS. Son was class of '09 and I don’t have doubts, I know for a fact that he couldn’t/wouldn’t self-advocate. </p>
<p>The problem with the disablities offices is that they all say the right things. I really wish that it was legally okay for them to say, “we don’t want your child; we won’t help him and don’t think he will do well here.” I’d prefer honesty to wasting thousands of dollars in tuition money.</p>
<p>Missypie especially; thanks for your words of wisdom. D didn’t get any supports from the HS as the NVLD isn’t “recognized” here and the ADHD was on an IEP but didn’t mean a thing to the school. I’ll be sure to be more on top of things the first semester and I wasn’t planning on hovering. A call to her old psych may be in order pre-semester also, just to make sure we’re not missing anything. Just when you think you’re done…</p>
<p>My sweet, compliant son got very good at telling us what he thought we wanted to hear - and here I thought Aspies couldn’t lie! The situation last year would have been better had we seen Son more often and especially on his own turf. Then we would have known that the ADD meds ran out long ago and that the tornadic condition of his room did not spell academic success. I thought I was being a cool, non-hovering mom by texting him instead of calling a lot or visiting. But then I found out that “fine” meant not so fine, and “meh” means he failed the final.</p>
<p>When people tell parents to not hover, to let go, to let them fail…they are not talking to you. Try to keep good track of the situation.</p>
<p>Parents of '10s, listen to your intuition. I know you hope your Aspie child will be just like his neurotypical peers, and find his way at college. But in your heart do you believe this will happen? Hope is not a plan, and Missypie and I are here to tell you that putting off making a good plan until your child crashes and burns at college is not the optimal strategy. It’s expensive and you cry a lot.</p>
<p>Thank you all for another good point of view to make sure supports are in place for your child at the university level. Perhaps it is better for the Aspie to attend a more local school (i.e. not more than 2 hour drive away) so that you can visit on the week-ends.<br>
In our case, the main problem I can see is the dorm situation and the need for a single room on a very quiet floor. I discussed this with my son and asked him if he prefers to stay at home where he is happy and attend the local community college vs. going away and taking a considerable risk of an unknown roommate/housing situation. My son is sound sensitive. He needs a very quiet environment and nothing too big (like our local state Flagship university).</p>
<p>Do you think your kids were well placed to begin with or were the supports lacking?</p>
<p>RobD, sorry to hear that you have had trouble getting NVLD recognized in your area. One institution that does recognize it is the College Board, they will give accomodations on the PSAT/SAT/SAT Subjects Tests/AP exams in some cases for students with NVLDs who need them. It sounds like some of this could have been your school, though, if the school also didn’t cooperate with the IEP/ADHD as well. My D2 goes to a private independent school that has been great with accomodations, so we are lucky.</p>
<p>D2 is off at an academic summer program on a college campus right now, and one thing I want to discuss with her when she gets home is how three weeks of dorm living with a roommate went. Trying to get a feeling for what will and won’t work when she heads off to college.</p>
<p>Missypie, I don’t think my D lies about her school status, I just think she really doesn’t know how it is going sometimes. Just like she can’t judge people well, she seems unable to judge how well she did on a test after the fact.</p>
<p>Colleges With Asperger Support Programs
A large number of colleges in the USA have programs for students with Aspergers and autism. Colleges ranging from University of California to New York University have programs or services for students in this population.</p>
<p>Some colleges with notable Asperger programs or services include:</p>
<p>Marshall University (WV): Marshall has a special program, specifically for students with Aspergers in their West Virginia Autism Training Center.
University of Connecticut (CT): University of Connecticut provides services for students with AS through the disabilities office.
Western Kentucky University (KY): The school serves students with Aspergers through the Kelly Autism Program.
Daemon College (NY): Daemon provides services to students with AS through the Gersh Program.
The Asperger Foundation International has a comprehensive list of colleges and universities with Asperger college programs.</p>
<p>Parents can contact autism support organizations for lists of recommended colleges. They can also talk to their child’s doctor, teachers and therapists for school recommendations.</p>
<hr>
<p>I found this article and I thought I would share it with you.</p>
<p>Just be wary of the many lists that are published. When you drill down, quite a few of the schools simply have Disablities Offices that responded to a survey and they currently have no identified Asperger’s students.</p>
<p>Another problem is that many of the “experts” touted by disability offices have very little actual experience with this population. They will generally have some sort of mental health/social work/special education/guidance related degree, and will have read a book or two and perhaps have taken a course or attended a continuing education conference. </p>
<p>Here is where it can be helpful to find a school near to a major medical center that has a fairly long history (AS has only been in the DSM since the nineties) with these clients, and with using ABA (applied behavior analysis) with young children. CMU and Pitt, for example, are right on top of Western Psychiatric. </p>
<p>Or, I would make myself aware of which professors have written plausible guides, and find out where they teach. (UConn, for example.) If feasible, it might also be helpful to attend conferences to meet with professionals, parents, and college students. (Penn State hosts its autism conference at the beginning of August, for example, and it is usually well-attended by college students as well as others - for those within a few hours’ drive, it might still be possible to attend this year’s sessions.)</p>
<p>mdcissp, I cannot fathom a college dorm that will meet your expectations. A very quiet floor? I hope for your son’s sake other posters can prove me wrong, but I think even a quiet floor is a stretch in most dorms.</p>
<p>@intparent: luckily, D doesn’t need extended time for anything. Our school psych is actually the one who first pointed out the subtest scatter in her testing, which lead to the NVLD diagnosis, but then told us it wasn’t recognized by the school. Um, OK…thanks? </p>
<p>Also, my D did a similar academic program last summer. She was fine with her roommate & community bathrooms (although she likes her upcoming dorm setup much better) but the thing that got to her was the monotony of dorm food. That was something on her list when looking at arrangements for college; she’s very happy that she’ll have access to food prep areas so she can make some food for herself. Also at the end of the 3 weeks, she was really ready to come home. She decided that she wanted to be close enough that she “could” come home 1x/month if she wanted to, so she eliminated the schools on her list that required flying.</p>
<p>@Greta: D’s dorm situation will be in a 4 br suite so she’ll have her own bedroom. It’s also an honors dorm not the all girls freshman dorm It will be quieter & she can always go to her room & close the door if need be. Dorms vary dramatically from school to school & there are some options that are quieter than others.</p>
<p>Yes, there are generally quieter options, but mdcissp said VERY quiet floor…and that requirement may be difficult (or impossible?) to find. A dorm is not going to mimic the home environment, even with a single on a quiet floor, in my experience.</p>
<p>Dorms can be very quiet places. I lived on a 22 hour quiet floor for a couple years and then moved to suite style living. Never had significant problems with noise, except for a little while when some guys were playing soccer in the hall.</p>
<p>However, to anyone whose kid is “sound sensitive”: Please, please, please teach your kid to wear hearing protectors or earmuffs when the environmental noise is more than they like. It is very common for me to see people wear hearing protectors in our office environments to help them focus or to wear earplus on the bus so they can sleep more soundly. Earmuffs or earplugs are an easy way to make your environment very quiet regardless of what is going on around you.</p>
<p>AS students do not always go through disabilities offices for supports, especially if they will not need academic accommodations and if the college provides acceptable living arrangements such as suites. But, many do see private pay professionals (sometimes reimbursed by insurance) who will provide advice and coaching in life skills, and others who will help with medication management as appropriate. It might be advisable for a parent to locate a suitable professional in advance(a professional familiar with the student might be able to help network), as student health services might not have the expertise to direct treatment for an AS student.</p>
<p>Hence, a disabilities office could feasibly have no idea of how many AS students attend a given school, especially if many types of assistance (note taking, lectures online, tutoring) are available to anyone in need. Some offices freely admit this.</p>
It will be quieter & she can always go to her room & close the door if need be. Dorms vary dramatically from school to school & there are some options that are quieter than others.</p>