<p>Just checked son's grades on the computer. Three choir grades: 100. Three AP classes: 96, 66, 47. With his great SATs and his above average GPA, I think he'll be admitted into some good schoos. But I just can't waste the money to send him to an expensive private school in the face of grades of 66 and 47. Community college seems like a good first year option, but I can't figure out how AP credits would figure in. </p>
<p>Let's say he gets admitted to his three favorite schools, and we would ask for his admission to be deferred for a year. Would I look on their AP credit charts and see what tests he would get credit for, then have him NOT take those classes at CC?</p>
<p>It's not the grades for the AP classes that will get him credit. Every school has pretty specific guidelines on what AP TEST score will get credit. Heck, you can take the test and if you get the result needed, you don't even need the course. My son nearly flunked an AP course but got a 5 on the exam, getting 8 credits for it and fulfilling his science requirements. </p>
<p>Usually, when you take a gap year, the colleges ask that you sign something that says you will not be going to college elsewhere unless you are deferring specifically for some special program that they want. I don't think you can just go to community college during your year of deferral, at least at some colleges. </p>
<p>As to whether he should repeat the courses in college whether it is CC or a 4 year school. it really depends on how important the subject is. If he is a math major and got a 3 in AP calc, but got a 66 for his grade, I think he had better repeat the course. But if he is a performing arts major and the 3 gets him out of the math requirement which he did not want to take anyways, then take it and run. It really depends and is something you need to assess as to whether or not future courses will be building on the course that he is opting out of by having AP credit take over. </p>
<p>Is he a senior right now? Is he getting an attack of senioritus? A talk is in order, maybe with the GC and teachers on board? I agree that if he is not getting through his courses, he is not ready for college. Also, many colleges put heavy weight on those senior grades so he may well not get into school with those numbers. Definitely a red flag as to performance.</p>
<p>He has Asperger's and no special services. By the time you get to senior level AP classes, the teachers don't want to give you a break in any way-zeros for late homework, etc. Thus the grades.</p>
<p>He has some 3s, 4s and 5s on some AP exams and whether he would get credit for those depends on the school. People talk about doing the basics at a CC, but if you would get out of the basics due to AP scores at a 4 year school, seems like you could end up wasting the year at the CC.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, missypie. What a bummer to find out about those less-than-stellar grades. I know these are his grades, but as parents we still suffer some of the fallout, don't we? {{{Hugs}}}</p>
<p>I'd look at the websites of the colleges he's looking at if the plan, as I'm sure it is, is to eventually transfer to a four-year school. I would think the AP scores don't figure into cc, but would at the transfer school. And yet, there must be some kind of shelf life on those AP scores.</p>
<p>If he is planning on a year at cc, you should look to see how the AP scores transfer at his future college and not repeat those courses. In my experience, however, the cc may be more generous with AP credits than private 4-year schools. </p>
<p>But I don't know of one school where you can get admitted, defer for a year and take cc courses. If he is not planning to attend a 4-yr school, then he should just apply to cc and transfer after a year. But look carefully. It's harder to transfer into some 4-yr schools than it is to get in as a freshman. At other schools (like state schools), it may be easier if the student has maintained a certain gpa at the cc. </p>
<p>And the last piece of unsolicited advice... If his IEP allows for late homework, he is entitled to that regardless of the class level. We have the same issue here-- teachers give accommodations in remedial or on-level classes but don't want to do that in honors or AP classes. Keep pushing for your kid. If, however, the IEP does not allow for late homework and it is an accommodation your child needs, call a meeting and request to change the IEP. </p>
<p>And it is possible to get accommodations in college. I'm not too sure how it works but some schools are much better than others. Do the research before he goes because you don't want to pay to have him earn Ds and Fs in college. As a matter of fact, he could easily end up on academic probation.</p>
<p>He has no IEP. He was dismissed from special services freshman year. It was fine with us because no meaningful services or accomodations had been provided since 6th grade. He's always done "too well" in school to get accomodations. No one wants to give you accomodations so you can get an A in an AP class.</p>
<p>It may that he is bored with some of the assignments as he sound like a bright kid who has learning issues which is what Aspergers often does. He might do well taking some business courses like accounting or finance at CC which are introductory but not repeating his AP courses. I know several borderline asperger types who are excellent accountants. The break from the academics might do him some good.</p>
<p>I can tell you Missypie, that the ways some of these seminar courses work at college are not so good for kids with Aspergers. They just are too "stream of consciousness" and non specific. My son does not have Aspergers, but I think he is ADD to a degree, and it is very difficult for him to focus on courses that are fuzzy that way. He had an exam last week and though he knew the material well, has no idea what his grade will be as the exam was pure essay. He doesn strikingly well in specific answer type courses like math or science.<br>
Do you have any support groups with parents who have gone through this? There may be colleges and programs that are better for his way of learning than others. Also, he can get accomodations at those colleges that have support services for the learning disabled despite A's in an AP class.</p>
<p>After attending the academic "Back to School Night" and listening to the AP teachers this part makes sense.</p>
<p>When asked if some of the students could have extra time to take tests in AP Chemistry and AP Physics, both explained it this way. If they give extra time on the test taking during the instruction part of the course, the student then struggles to complete the actual AP exam in the structured amount of time allowed. Both teachers were going to shorten the amount of time for taking the quizzes and exams so that the students were more prepared when under pressure for the AP exams next May.</p>
<p>I don't know if the actual AP exam will give anymore time to anyone....IEP or not. I would check with someone on that.</p>
<p>Yeah, some of us have had these discussions with the teachers of AP classes, specifically the one that the freshman take. They are given the amount of time per question that would be given on the AP exam, from Day 1, and the grades count. It's insane to me. Seems like they would start out at twice the time and shorten it a bit for every test and quiz, so that by a month before the AP exam, they are taking their tests and quizzes in the amount of time required.</p>
<p>"He has no IEP. He was dismissed from special services freshman year." </p>
<p>Well, he may have worked himself into the place where he could benefit from special services again. Sort of like my HS pal who was half-way through her Ph.D. program before her dyslexia was identified, and accommodated for. If there is any chance at all that he may need services in college, I think you ought to push to get something now so it is back on his record.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best in a tough situation.</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound defeated, but it's been a long road which isn't taking us where I'd expected. (I need to start another thread about dashed parental hopes and dreams.) </p>
<p>Anyway, the school's "solution" to not succeeding in an AP class is to drop down to the regular version. I remember the regular Chem techer saying that homework only counts 10%, so a student who turns in no homework can still get a 90 in the class....her rule evloved because so many of her students simply refused to do any homework. Jeez, if my son was in classes with those type of rules, he'd be acing them, because he does turn in his homework at least some of the time.</p>
<p>We've been texting about his grade (the 47). He's such a sweetheart. I want to cry.</p>
<p>Why can't the nicest kids get the nicest grades? The distict just sent an email recognizing the national merit semifinalists. One of the six kids from our school is one who tormented Son in elementary and middle school. Sad.</p>
<p>What is he saying? Poor guy.</p>
<p>About NMSF: I was really surprised by the list from our school. You never know, huh? I was surprised by names who weren't on the list, and really surprised by names who were on the list. It's a relatively small class and even my S didn't know several names.</p>
<p>missypie....can you get him out of that class with a grade of 47 being that it is so early in the school year? Unfortunately, a poor grade in an AP class can ending up hurting the overall GPA and it might be better to just not have it on the transcript.</p>
<p>The colleges that I visited with my son this year (9 of them located from East to West) said that they are looking for a challenging curriculum, but not to the expense of ruining the GPA just to show AP courses taken. They also said that if you aren't going to pursue a degree that requires advanced math and sciences, don't kill yourself taking them. Take AP courses in history or english or economics so that they will assist with the gen. ed. requirements in college.</p>
<p>There is too much emphasis on students taking AP courses and not enough on choosing the ones that will actually be helpful. In my son's case, the AP Calculus, Chemistry and Physics are going to be helpful towards his Engineering degree but he would not have taken them if he hadn't been going into that field.</p>
<p>I agree with britbrat. Don't have him knocking himself out for no purpose. If you pick the right college, it will have some support services. Hopefully he picks a field of study that is compatible with his strong points. I am waiting for my son to do that right now. He is really into political science and other "fuzzy" type of courses when he is much stronger and naturally inclined towards the the definite type things like math. But it's for him to explore and discover and so far he is loving it. Am anxiously awaiting grades. S got a 5 on the AP Calc but a 2 on the Govt. You can see how he is wired.</p>
<p>Last night was mini-school. The teacher said that grades for the first unit are always low but that they get better. He has a test today and we'll see how he did. He really enjoys the class...lots of discussion, but of course, no points for discussion. I think it's pretty easy to "drop down" to the regular class, even after the first 6 weeks.</p>
<p>The problem is that there is no "honors" or "pre-AP" version of the class..it's government, which is a state requirement, so he can either take it from Mr. I Have My PhD and Also Teach at College So I'm Not Going to Coddle Them, or he can take the regular class with all the seniors who don't care about school.</p>
<p>We'll play it by ear.</p>
<p>missypie,</p>
<p>Your school district has done you a huge disservice by denying you accommodation for your son in terms of extra time on tests, late homework, etc. After a significant battle, we were able to get extra time (and separate testing room) for all exams in HS due to his focus issues (very sensitive to small distractions in a relatively quiet room).</p>
<p>In our state, you are entitled to the same type of accommodations in college if you have a working IEP from high school. So now he goes to the testing center at the community college for all exams and gets a private area.</p>
<p>Now if only he could focus on classes outside of his obsessive major interest (computer network management). His narrowness of focus/obsessive behavior has gotten to the point now where I have to take his statistics text book at night and translate everything into examples of how/why you would want to know this managing a network, just to get him to study. Yes, this is helicoptering and no I don't do this type of stuff at all with my goalie daughter, so it is not a "parenting problem" - it is just what is necessary to keep him in school, insured, and getting necessary medical care. Lord help me when he has to take English!</p>
<p>I don't know if your situation with your son is like ours, but we cannot take a gap year with him and keep him on our insurance unless we buy COBRA and then we still cannot re-add him to the policy when he returns. So a gap year was ruled out up front.</p>
<p>And for our son (yours may very well be different), if we don't keep him engaged academically, he is more likely to fall back into WoW (crack cocaine for the autistic, trust me) which I still have to monitor. Keeping him productively engaged in our case is the best defense against negative obsessive behavior.</p>
<p>I'd say if you have a good plan for him for his gap year and your medical insurance can cover him, it might be good for him to get away from the negative experiences of high school before starting at CC. Just be careful.</p>
<p>Missypie,
It sounds like high school is really not your son's cup of tea. I am worried that community college could be too much like high school. Hav you considered, is there an inexpensive four-year school nearby that he could start out at instead? As long as he is planning to transfer after his first year? This would make dealing with his AP credits easier, too.</p>
<p>Missypie,
I don't know much about colleges with LD programs but I know they exist.
I agree with others here that your son deserves to be reevaluated for an IEP in the HS. Be pushy if you have to. I have been told that it is easier to get accomodations in college if you've already got a documented plan from HS.
Perhaps someone else can talk about this.</p>
<p>Sorry- I see that goalie dad has discussed this too!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I don't think a true "gap year" (meaning no school at all) would be helpful. He is gets a bit better in his personal organization every year....maybe now he's at the level of an average (not above average) 7th or 8th grader....okay, maybe 6th. (I have a 7th grader and he still forgets stuff more than she does.) If he takes a gap year and gets a job where all he has to do is just show up, I fear he may regress.</p>
<p>I will say that I have added a good local college to our list that's about a 20 minute drive from our house "just in case."</p>