<p>My son will be graduating HS next year...has always had verbal processing difficulties and has been socially quiet. He has taken a mix of mainstream and special ed classes and has a great attitude. </p>
<p>I am considering Landmark, Dean College or the local community college (which has a very good program to prepare kids to go to a four-year college). I am concerned about him having (or actually NOT having) a social life. The local community college has no dorms and he would still live here. Dean seems to be the most college-like but I don't know. Anyone out there can speak to this issue, opinion or first -hand experience? (It is killing me as everyone around is talking about their kids applying/going to 'this college' 'that university' etc.! :(</p>
<p>It’s a tough call, I know. What I’d suggest is take your son to all of these schools to tour (if you haven’t already) and ask him if any of these colleges have a good vibe for him – a place that feels good to him.</p>
<p>There are many colleges around the country that have excellent programs, but it has to be a right fit. If your son is someone who listens to his parents and listens to counselors, that helps a lot. I’ve discovered through my son’s friends with various LDs as well as those without any diagnosed issues that sometimes the local community college is the best way to transition from HS to college to the real world. Sometimes going away to college, plus increased difficulty in academics, plus meeting new friends can collectively be so overwhelming the student becomes paralyzed. For others, it is the best thing to ever happen to them, getting away from the parents and learning to fend for themselves.</p>
<p>A number of my son’s friends who were accepted at decent universities ended up after 1 or 2 years back home at community college. Some students need lots of help staying focused or organized, especially those who have had a lot of parental help in the past. The new freedom of being outside parental control can play havoc on the academics.</p>
<p>As for these colleges you are considering: find out from them what their success rate is in transitioning to a 4 year college, and where the students have transferred.</p>
<p>A lot of the students I know with LDs do really well starting off at community college that have good disability services, especially those with organizational and time management programs. It takes them to the next level, that is, transferring to a 4 year college – where a transfer student can still get into a dorm, although they’ll be a little older. Although a little older, that’s not a bad thing, especially if your son is socially quiet.</p>
<p>Yes, there can be some amazing social opportunities, and I think that’s what you, the parent, can look into ahead of time.</p>
<p>I’m speaking looking at community college life from living in Los Angeles where, frankly, a huge chunk from our many local HS go. It’s an interesting mix. Some go because they have the grades to get into a State College, but not the grades to get into their UC of choice. Others haven’t the grades. Others haven’t taken all of the UC required HS courses. So our local CC’s are not only true “community” colleges, they are feeder schools to our UC system. Many have weekly concerts, theatre, and sporting activities. Many have bands and orchestra.</p>
<p>What might be a thought is community college during the year, and a summer abroad study program. With the money you save sending your son to CC, that might be an interesting option. Getting on foreign soil sometimes levels the social playing field, I know it did with me – it forced me to communicate, something up to that point I didn’t feel very comfortable doing. Same for my son – while in high school, they were taken on a variety of trips, both in and out of the U.S. Going to a place where your son has some familiarity with the language would be best. If learning a new language has been difficult for him, you might consider the United Kingdom. If your son knows a little Spanish, the world opens up quite a bit more!</p>
<p>Are you looking only at Dean or Landmark in addition to cc’s? Have you looked at any of the college guidebooks that focus on colleges with LD services? I think Princeton Review publishes one and there is another as well- you can find them at any bookstore. I’ve heard good things about Curry College and I think another called Mitchell- there are all different degrees of support offered and hundreds of schools out there with learning disability services. As another poster said, it helps if your child is compliant. Mine is not and she is now a freshman at at art college that offers some disability services but is not as structured as I would have preferred. She refused to visit most of the colleges that I knew would be best for her.</p>
<p>You should look into some other schools that have good support. For instance, Marshall university has a top ranked program called HELP(higher education for learning problems) it is a private program affiliated with the school and you have to pay but it isn’t too expensive. You have a tutor for every class you take. The tutors have taken the class and gotten an A and had been trained by the HELP staff. You recieve as much tutoring as time you are in class and this is for EVERY class you take. They also have additional tutoring with a learning specialist in areas like attention, time management, study skills and strategic reading. In addition to that they offer remedial tutoring in areas subjects like reading and math that could be helpful if your son has a weak subject. They have a transition program over the summer for three weeks where the every incoming freshman in the program lives in the same dorm and takes two classes, one of which is an intro to college type class. This would be very helpful socially for your son because you say he is quite. He could also meet a lot of students you have similar learning challenges as he does. A lot of the students hang out in the programs building(they have there own building on campus), work or volunteer and they all seem to know each other well and get along. They also have there own social club. In addition to tutoring they provide accomodations and have individual rooms for tutoring and test taking and proctors for tests. Your student can get certain testing accomodations too like use of caculator or spell check, allowing the proctor to re-word, clarify or explain a question to the student, having the proctor read the questions or having a scribe. This would also give your son the college experience because most students live on campus at this school and it is an average size and everything. There are also a lot of small private schools that have great programs with separate adimisions. you could always have him go to a CC for a year and then transfer in basically as a freshman with a few credits under his belt already. you could have him take study skills classes(and time management, test taking etc), remedial or easier classes in weak subjects and intro classes for things he might want to major in like for instance a intro to teacher class if he was interested in teaching. Then he would be used to college work, more mature, more independent, have better study skills and have a better idea of what he want to do in college. hope this helps some. also, there are some very helpful books on this topic.</p>