<p>I would like your college recommendations for my son. He wants to major in business. We live in California, and would like a college in the West. </p>
<p>After a disastrous junior year, my DS was diagnosed with ADHD, combined, dysgraphia, and cognitive disorder NOS. He has a high IQ. His main issues are with executive functioning, planning, organizing, visual & working memory. He has gone undiagnosed so far because teachers and others said he was lazy, underachieving, unmotivated, etc. Finally, he starts failing, testing gets done, and we have a diagnosis. He will be getting accomodations the next school year. He is also trying meds. </p>
<p>At this point, as an incoming senior, he has a declining GPA, 2.67 overall, SAT (no prep) of 1534, ACT of 23. </p>
<p>On the positive side, he has high verbal functioning, plays soccer/lacrosse, has played a musical instrument since age 3, has done community service in Mexico, and the Philippines, spent a summer in Spain doing a language immersion program. </p>
<p>Is he considering the community colleges in your area? This might give him an opportunity to improve his gpa while he is living at home in a relatively structured environment and to see how his meds might help him. That's what I would go for, if he were my kid.
If he does well, in two years he'll have a lot of options.</p>
<p>This is a tough one. Whether a student has a diagnosis like ADD, autistic spectrum, Non verbal IQ issues, etc or just exhibits the consequences, college becomes very dicey for such kids. I have seen such kids sometimes pull it off in college, but most of the time unless the kid is on board to do a full court press in studying, it just does not work. I have kids who fit in this category with partial diagnoses. I have found that diagnosis makes no difference once kids are adults. You either can or cannot function in a world where you need to do so independently. </p>
<p>You can research schools that work with LD kids closely like Curry College, but the issue here is that your kid has to accept the fact that he has the problem and he has to work closely with the office, not just go there when he gets into trouble. </p>
<p>My kids have done very well in very short courses over the summer. They can maintain interest over 3 weeks very well. Over 6 weeks, still okay with one course, but when you start piling it on, it gets to be a problem. You have to feel this out and it hurts.</p>
<p>We have an excellent JC close to home. This is an option. However, if he is away, in a structured program, he will have more of an opportunity to be independent, and own his life. </p>
<p>If he is home, I will save him every time he falls. Can't help it. Away, but with a good coach, he will develop skills necessary to be independent in the world.</p>
<p>One option might be to apply to some schools this fall and see how things fall and how he does senior year. If he or you feel he is not mature enough or ready to go he could do a structured gap year and reapply next fall.
Schools that I can think of offhand that might work if the SAT gets a bit higher. Dominican in San Rafael. Some of the smaller colleges in Oregon. He could try Univ of Redlands, Cal Lutheran. (just trying to think off the top of my head where some of my son's friends got in) Some of the lesser Cal States- Fresno, Sacramento, Monterey Bay. Northern Arizona.</p>
<p>However, given that S only has this upcoming year to prepare himself for the academic rigors and responsibilities of college while at the same time adjusting to new meds, accommodations and specific learning techniques for his LD, I would agree that he may benefit more from a year at a community college as a "practice run" before jumping into college.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion from scansmom...our friend's son had flailed in high school and the SALT Center gave him the support he needed to do well at U of A. I would caution that I've also seen kids get distracted by partying there, so I think the student has to be motivated.</p>
<p>Well, you are not alone with this problem. I don't know how your finances are, there are schools that offer therapeutic help for kids like your son, but they are expensive and usually located in the East. Many of the state schools offer help to LD students and IF THE STUDENT COMMITS to getting help, they will get plenty. You can also supplement that help with weekly visits to a cognitive behavioral therapist within walking distance to the university your son attends. Make sure you find someone who specializes in working with ADHD adults so you do not waste his time and your money. If you do go the CC route, please search for threads on the LD forum by a poster by the name of transitionsuccess. That poster used to be a CC guidance counselor for LD kids and has posted some helpful information in the past. Additionally, I think I remember transitionsuccess inviting parents with questions about how their kids could be successful in college to send a PM (personal message) for advice.</p>
<p>I have two kids like yours, both diagnosed late (though earlier than your son, so they had time to get the GPA up before college apps) and one has managed to finish two years at a top university with a respectable GPA. My younger child, who will be a college frosh in a few weeks, took 3 college classes while still in high school. Both of my highly intelligent, ADD kids think college is way easier than high school. Many of the things that sunk them in HS (homework, reading logs, 7 hours a day of class) and inspired their teachers to think they were lazy and unmotivated, do not exist at the college level. Although they certainly still have their challenges, college can be a change for the better for some LD kids. You might consider having your son take a CC class during the fall semester to get an idea of how he does and what he wants to look for in a college. Sometimes, kids can take a HS requirement at the CC and get credit for it on their HS transcript. Also, colleges will see that your son is capable of doing college level work.</p>
<p>You have a wonderful JC program nearby (I graduated from Rancho Cotate HS) and it may be extremely beneficial to you to have him be close by. It seems as if he is still feeling out his diagnosis and by keeping him at the SRJC he'd have the chance to adapt to a somewhat college setting without being thrown to the wolves so to speak.</p>
<p>It also makes a lot of sense financially with the Doyle scholarship that is handed out year after year.</p>
<p>I know the OP's S would like to stay on the West Coast, but for anyone else who's out there, I talked to someone yesterday whose S is a rising soph at Curry and is absolutely thriving. His parents had many good things to say about it. The PAL program sounds excellent. They also mentioned a gap year program for kids with LDs in Worcester, MA -- I haven't had a chance to look this up yet, but it focused on internships, time management, some Outward Bound at the beginning of the program, community service and independent living skills. There was also the option to take some short classes at Clark. </p>
<p>We know someone else whose S is at Landmark, which is another school that focuses on kids with LD issues.</p>
<p>I guess we have options, which will be mostly decided by how S does this coming semester. He is signed up to take Astronomy with lab at the JC.</p>
<p>It seems our alternatives are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Go to local JC for a year. </p></li>
<li><p>Go away to a GAP program.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to a school such as Curry/Landmark on the East Coast.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to a larger school with a good program, such as U of A.</p></li>
<li><p>Go to a smaller school, which provides some services for students who self-advocate.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I wish I had a crystal ball that could just tell me what would benefit him the most. Anyone out there...crystal ball?</p>
<p>I'll share one if I find one. You'll find that your son's choices are surprisingly similar to anyone elses. Lots of ADD kids out there diagnosed and undiagnosed. Not much leeway given. Programs are out there, but the kid has to be motivated to use them. </p>
<p>I am impressed with a few Curry grads I have met who swear the school made it possible for them to be college graduates and really turned their lives around. One is a teacher at younger son's school. </p>
<p>Very good friend of ours has son in same situation as yours but a year earler. He went to a local school for the summer to get a head start on some areas of difficulty under parents umbrella. Then went off to a small state school which did provide services for kids with problems. He's back home, could not cope with the campus life, blew it. But, he has a fraternal twin who was always high performing academically, does not have his issues, and he did not do well freshman year either; is on probation this upcoming year for the same reasons at a different school. My kids have always had this kind of a problem and I am still hurting from it.</p>
<p>I have found that daily e-mails, helping with organization, direction and scheduling can help if the kid will read them. Keep it light and have lots of other goodies to read than the list of do's and don'ts. And pray. Found a place for religion in my lif when kids got older.</p>
<p>Be sure to check out the LD support services of the local community college before signing on. Although, from a common sense perspective, you would assume that community colleges would provide excellent services, this is not necessarily the case. </p>
<p>I think that a problem in trying to figure out what would be an appropriate college setting for your son is that his diagnosis comes late in his junior year. You just can't tell how well he will do with accommodation, tutoring geared toward his LD's, and possibly different trials of meds until you find the right one. Once his issues are addressed, his profile as a student might look very different from the profile you present. (And this is what makes a year at a cc sound attractive, in that he would have a chance to show what he can do academically if accommodated -- assuming the cc actually accommodates properly.) Also, I don't know if this would work financially, but what about those boarding school programs that provide a post-senior year experience for bright kids who are late bloomers? </p>
<p>If accommodations and meds bring your son's academics in line with his IQ and with the enthusiasm and commitment he's shown in his EC's, you might be looking at a wider range of colleges for him. Many excellent colleges offer similarly excellent LD support and accommodations, coaching, tutoring, mental health professionals and learning professionals on staff, accommodations -- the whole shebang -- and do not charge extra for those services. </p>
<p>But the unanswered question remains, how will he acheive once he has learned to use the accommodations and if and when he finds a helpful medication regimen. It seems like a lot of pressure to try to figure this out in the tiny window he'll have before most seniors have a list and start applying.</p>
<p>hopefully your son will find a medication that is effective, is he starting now so not waiting til school to make corrective changes. my daughter was diagnosed add in 5th grade, couldn't get accomodations til 8th grade when she hit a wall academically. medication and accomodations have helped tremendously---she was a bright student who had very erratic scores etc. proud to say she just received her AP exam report in Language and she scored a 4. She got A's in AP and honors classes and most importantly she recognizes she has more difficulty than the average student and accepts her differences. she did not want to use any accomodations, ie. more test time as she saw it as "cheating" but now realizes the school would not provide if she wasn't in need of these. She has a positive attitude and motivation to achieve in college and that means the world to me. good luck with your son and hope he finds this help a turning point. feel free to pm me if you like...</p>
<p>Curry College and Landmark College specialize in kids with difficulties. Landmark is a two year school that prepares kids to succeed in four year schools. That seems a sensible approach to me.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. There are so many choices, but DS really wants to go away to college. He has seen his brother do it, and doesn't want to be left behind. We will see whether he can get it together in time. At least, colleges can't say he has maxed out his potential. He really is just beginning to discover what he can do.</p>
<p>It is a longshot but you might look at Willamette. My husband and son felt that the disabilities director was great. She seemed helpful and wants her students to succeed. Strangely they did not get that impression from some of the disabilities directors they talked with. Willamette also was one of the schools I don't think he would have received an acceptance if he had not visited and had an indepth visit. (he did not end up attending Willamette, but I still feel it was probably a better choice then where he is)
Regarding U of Arizona. I think you have to be accepted separately to the SALT program. I spoke with a LD specialist who felt it was a great program but that the student had to be mature enough to take advantage of all it offered. Lots of other distractions at Uni of Arizona.</p>