<p>We are blessed that our asperger son got into many schools Academically he will need help with time management skills, organization, this is our list and if u are aware of the services of the disability departments that would be great. Note, we are from Long Island, NY so distance is somewhat of a factor</p>
<p>Binghamton -4 hours away
geneseo- 6.5 hours away
University of Delaware - HONORS 3 hours away
College of NJ- 2hours away, told it is a suitcase school
Muhlenberg- 3 hours away</p>
<p>An important factor is that socially he will meet kids with similar interests (he's not into anime but is into political, trivia, movies</p>
<p>thanks for your opinions</p>
<p>What is your childs major?</p>
<p>Has he lived away from home?</p>
<p>What type of accomodations did he need in HS? </p>
<p>Does he want a big school or small school. these answers would be helpful in selection.</p>
<p>his major probably will be history, and he plans on becoming a lawyer.</p>
<p>He lived on a college campus last year for 5 weeks during the summer, and was able to handle the responsibilities, i.e. laundry, medication, waking up, etc.</p>
<p>His accomodations in hS included, extended time, use of computer for essays, resource room daily for 40 minutes, test administer in small group special location, answers recorded for scantron tests due to motor difficulties, spelling and grammar waived</p>
<p>A small school (Muhlenberg) would limit the variety of students but he would get more personal attention, a big school like University of Delaware (Honors) maybe too in personal although honors would give it a smaller feel, and he would meet others who are not jocks and frat boys</p>
<p>congrats on your s’s acceptances…</p>
<p>suggest contacting each school’s student disability services and discuss how they handle arranging accommodations, what documentation they’ll need, (you might need to update things if older than 3 yrs I believe) and what support they provide if your student needs it as time goes on…good luck!</p>
<p>I teach at a college. I would contact disability offices at all the colleges on your list and have them email their policy statement. See if they differ substantially.</p>
<p>Being from LI too, i understand your situation. I think I might choose Binghamton because if he makes friends there is more likely to be continuity over the summer, which might be important to an Aspie kid considering how many LI’ers attend. I think it will also have the most challenging academics. It’s up to you whether that is a plus or a minus.</p>
<p>Another plus for Binghamton is that they have wonderful academic resources for the study of autism.</p>
<p>Here’s the sad secret: Don’t believe what the Disability Office says. Sorry, but it’s true.</p>
<p>How good is your son about advocating for himself? Colleges normally expect that the student will be able to advocate for himself, but that can be a big issue for some Aspies.</p>
<p>How good is his executive function? How much prodding/nagging/scheduling have you been doing for him?</p>
<p>What does his high school resource room provide for him?</p>
<p>Um, there can be a lawsuit if the disability office does not meet its stated policy objectives.</p>
<p>It’s important to see what the school is offering. Is testing included? How mandatory is professors’ participation, questions like that. I have taught at different schools and policy difference do make a difference in outcomes for students.</p>
<p>his resource room helps with organizing, extra time for test, going over his writing, etc. As for Advocating for himself, he has . He wanted a certain club at school, and was able to convince administration for it. He has been known to “advocate” (some my say “fight”) over a grade on an assignment. He is usually respectful but can get emotional.</p>
<p>As far as scheduling/nagging, I have really tried since junior year to have him take responsibility for the things he needs to do but I try to stay out of it, and let him live with the consequences. I’m not saying I don’t nag, but I do pick my fights.</p>
<p>I will take the advice of not believing everything the disability office is saying. I have spoken to all disability offices on the list and the vibe i get from some, is to run the other way.
I did like binghamtons, and Geneseo’s offices.</p>
<p>Thanks for the recommendation of Binghamton, my concern though is how easy it seems to get liquor there (I Know it’s at all campuses although some have tougher on campus rules) and I know that it would not be a good mix for my son.</p>
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<p>There could, but in practice, college Disability Offices are inexperienced with students with Aspergers, and do not deliver the services they say they will deliver. This happened in my son’s case. I have heard the same story from numerous other Aspie parents on this board, and professionals dealing with Aspies, about numerous other colleges.</p>
<p>I cannot recommend choosing a college for an Asperger’s student on the basis of what the Disability Office says it will do, with the plan of suing if the college doesn’t come through.</p>
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<p>This is the big red flag. Who will help your son with organizing in the college he chooses?</p>
<p>hopefully the office of disability. some said they would, others recommend an outside source.
And of course my son would have to realize that he needs this help and seek it out. (He never would let me near his backpack, for fear I would have a heart attack!) the resource room has worked on him doing this independently with some limited success.</p>
<p>We are willing to hire a student (from psych dept, who is interested in asperger) to work with him.</p>
<p>About the alcohol issues - you would need to ask about housing options, and have a look for yourselves. While there seems to be alcohol available nearly everywhere, and most party schools ALSO have enough students who do not drink that a non-drinker can still find friends to hang out with, at some schools public drunkenness is far more of a problem than at others. </p>
<p>Lots will also depend on how easily you feel your son is swayed by peer pressure. As early as accepted student stay overs, my children had to sign forms acknowledging that they were agreeing not to drink, and that their admission would be rescinded and their high school informed if they were found to be engaging in underage drinking on campus.</p>
<p>Some schools have sub-free options, that are less likely to have the in- your -face drinking and drunkenness. It is not just whether or not your son partakes, but whether he would be greatly disturbed by the noise and stench of drunken classmates. Also find out what types of activities he might find enjoyable, and have him meet students already active in these activities or clubs to get a better sense of whether or how he could have fun with them.</p>
<p>I do not know anything about the alcohol situation on any of these campuses, but in general it is good to try to get an idea of how easily your son could develop a social life, and whether he could find dorm life comfortable or easily move off campus if needed. (Binghamton is in a suburb, and I’m not sure if there is any convenient off-campus housing close to campus.) Some families have found it useful for their child to arrange for single rooms, with many schools providing “medical singles” through a disabilities office, so you might also want to consider this.</p>
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<p>I have yet to hear of a college whose office of disability gives the kind of intensive organizing help that many Aspies need, other than the specialized schools like Landmark and Curry. Colleges say they do, but they don’t.</p>
<p>Beware of hiring an undergraduate as a coach/mentor; beware of having an undergraduate peer mentor assigned. A well-meaning but untrained undergraduate probably doesn’t know enough, and won’t spend enough time. Will the mentor specifically go over scheduling every assignment and every exam for every course? That’s the help your son is getting in the resource room.</p>
<p>Colleges rarely will grant the accommodation of having spelling and grammar errors overlooked in term papers. If your son expects that accommodation, get the promise in writing from the Disability Office.</p>
<p>I would also add - college is different from high school in that college personnel will not be sharing information with you unless your son signs a release. Most parents of aspies I know have at least one adult who has regular contact with their child who is authorized to share information as they see necessary. It can be tricky to get your child to agree to any of this, but well worth the effort. </p>
<p>One possibility is to arrange for a private professional to see your child once every week or two. Even better if your child can feel comfortable calling this person with any concerns right on the spot, with an understanding that they will get a response within a few hours at the most, and usually sooner. This would have nothing to do with the disability office, but this person could also serve as an advocate with the disability office and teach your son some self-advocacy skills.</p>
<p>One bright side we found was that many schools provide “services” to all students that would have been available only to iep students at a high school level. I would find out which schools if any provide note takers for introductory courses, or drop-in tutoring centers.</p>
<p>I would also go over all gen-ed requirements and figure out ahead of time if any would cause your son great difficulty, and if so, whether he could get them waived or take them at another school, perhaps during the summer. There is another thread in which an Aspie student is struggling to pass the foreign language requirement at her school, because of great difficulty with the conversational aspect of instruction at her school, for example.</p>
<p>Where does your son want to go? Your son probably has a vibe that a certain school feels right to him. I suggest you re-visit the top two choices that your son thinks is right, then go visit those choices on the accepted students week-end. You can talk to the rep at the college disability office on the week-end and sees which school appears to be the most supportive. I also don’t know if bottom line cost is a factor too.</p>
<p>You may be required to provide recent psycho-educational testing results [ taken within the last 2 years] in order for some disability offices to provide services or to allow accommodations. These tests can cost thousands of dollars, so if $$ is a factor, one of the first questions you should ask when contacting a disability office is what tests if any do they require to make accommodations.
I agree that it would be a VERY good idea to have an outside organizational professional/ psychologist lined up that he can see once a week or as needed- someone who can help your son make the transition to college, as it will be bumpy and hard. The disability offices are RARELY as helpful as one hopes or as helpful AS students need them to be.</p>
<p>thanks for all your comments, i will try to address some of them-</p>
<p>mdcissp- my son is willing to go to a SUNY school so that we will help him out for grad school.
although he got some scholarships at the others, they are still a lot more. If I thought the private or OOS schools would be a better fit the money wouldn’t be an issue. He hasn’t seen binghamton or Geneseo and we will be going this week and have appointmeets to meet with disability staff.</p>
<p>frazzled-
thank you for the idea of setting up a therapist he can meet weekly with.
foreign language- in my district he was language exempt but he did take Spanish and took a regents in it. It wasn’t his best subject, but he did average. IF He must take a language, i think it will be hard, but he’ll get through it, or he’ll take it during the summer at the community college, where he’ll be able to focus on it.
Housing- binghamton does have off campus housing and also does have singles. He seems to prefer having a room mate, we are still not sure on this issue.
Release- not a problem, he will sign</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang-
When i asked him what he does in resource room, he said mostly studying. i will contact his teacher and see if she feels he’ll need assistance with organization, etc.
As far as accommodations, I don’t know if he’ll get the ones he had in h.s. and i understand
the difference between what is granted in h.s. vs. college. He just recently had his pyscho
evaluation and his educational evaluation and we will be bringing them to the disability offices we are visiting. My understanding that what ever accommodations he will receive will be written clearly in a letter that will be presented by the student and some disability offices to his teachers. he will have to advocate for himself if these things are not honored
and will have to get the disability office involved. If he plans to go into the legal field, this would not be a bad practice.</p>
<p>What accommodations do his evaluations say he needs? My understanding is that those evaluations spell out in detail exactly what the student needs.</p>
<p>We have returned from our college trip and met with the disability offices. One was nice but not very helpful. (especially with the discussion of foreign language) The other college we met with the learning specialist, who really understood aspergers, noted his slow processing
of info on the evaluation, and came up with some really good ways to attack this issue. On questions of single rooms, she called residential life for us and regarding General Ed credits she sent to us to the student advisors who were also extremely helpful. Needless to say these things made an impact on our son, who felt he would be more comfortable at the school where they were making an effort to see where he would need assistance for an
"invisible’ disability. Our deposit is sent and I think this will be a good choice. Perfect no,
will it have challenges, of course.</p>