S is applying to colleges next year and while he’s pretty friendly and wants to be sociable but his social skills skills aren’t the always the greatest (small talk can be a struggle). He’s interested in trying to participate in overnights at schools he’s interested in, in, to help figure out if places are a good fit - but I don’t know if this work be a disaster? Are there any experienced folks out there who could provide a little info on their experiences related to this?
There are lots of colleges with quirky kids out there. I have both a neuro typical and an aspie. So have not done the overnights with aspie but I will say…the ones my eldest attended are full of scheduled activities. Which would be a good fit for my aspie who A. needs a schedule and B. provides structure in terms of conversation topics and also night filled with watching events (like acapella performances) where no conversation necessary. for the six overnights she did there was little down time in any of them…they keep them busy. Hope this helps!
I have a aspie and he did 2 overnight visits with no problems.
Big help - thank you very much. I don’t want to discourage him from taking a deep dive at any school he’s interested in, but also don’t want to set him up to have a terrible experience that immediately sends a school off his list! Your comments are good.
This is really encouraging - thank you. Did your child value any particular part of his.her visits the most? I don’t know how much feedback you got!
S ended up doing two overnights and had a great experience at both. I really recommend this experience to other kids on the spectrum - it gives you a much deeper view of daily life than you can ever get from a campus tour.