<p>I agree with the posts about co-ops being excellent for kids on the spectrum as they are for NT kids too. Housing is important too and planning ahead can very much help with the housing. Remember also that schools like fresh testing (within two years) My ds did his in the spring of SR year to help us work with the disability office.</p>
<p>We tried to discuss with my son that all kids struggle with the transition to college. Not all kids fit in with the college they go to first and transfer. It can be just harder on kids on the spectrum who often internalize an outside source of conflict to be their fault solely. They benefit greatly from supports but my son really wants to do and look like everyone else. He was resistant to ask for is testing accommodations last Quarter but did and saw it helped. This Quarter has been better from the beginning because he asked for his testing accommodations.</p>
<p>The OPâs son was possibly interested in engineering and unfortunately, liberal arts colleges do not typically offer engineering majors. A small liberal arts college can be a good starting point for students on the spectrum but for engineering students, would require transferring to a university down the road (and starting over making new friends, new connections with professors and staff, adjusting to a new schoolâŠ) I actually did have my S apply to nearby LA which was well known for its services for students with LDs and Aspergers, as a worst case backup, but it would have meant transferring over to the nearby state university a few years later (also one of the schools he applied to), we were looking at a possible 3-2 program (double major, with degrees from both schools) but since we also were interested in co-ops which can often extend graduation by a year, that hardly seemed worth it (as did starting at the LA).</p>
<p>Considering the relatively high concentration of âon the spectrumâ types in CS and engineering, along with the prevalence of CS and engineering people from big state universities, it is not necessarily a given that someone âon the spectrumâ will self-destruct at a big state university. Indeed, a big state university may have a large enough number of CS and engineering students that âgeekinessâ and ânerdinessâ is well accepted, at least among those students.</p>
<p>On the other hand, everyone is different, and it is not perfectly predictable where someone will or will not thrive (whether or not s/he is âon the spectrumâ).</p>
<p>S is at a big (25Kish?) state u. The campus is fairly compact, which is nice, and dorms are suite styleâeveryone has his/her own bedroom. Although singles can contribute to isolation, I think this setup has been good for my S. (S doesnât really socialize with his suitemates, but they get along.) His school is STEM heavy, plenty of geeks, so I doubt S stands out. He probably feels less âoddâ there than he did in high school.</p>
<p>Illinois Institute of Technology is a small private university with a strong engineering school, architecture school, and psych program, located in Chicago near downtown. It has a substantial number of international students, and has a strong international rep. Itâs a low-profile but academically strong university for students interested in STEM. It also has initiated an ASD-specific program, which includes one-on-one mentoring, weekly check-in, and supplemental counseling. I spoke to its administrator, who certainly seemed to âgetâ ASD. Few people in New England may be familiar with IIT perhaps, but it has a strong reputation amongst employers including major corporations.</p>
<p>Regarding housing, it was important for us to confirm that on-campus school-sponsored housing was available for all students, not just underclassmen and certainly not just for freshmen. Also checked to see whether school housing was overcrowded, resulting in âtriples in doublesâ for freshmen. A strong-contender school was triple-bunking this year due to a bumper-crop of freshmen, a big negative for us. âMedical-singleâ should be relatively easy to obtain with diagnosis report, if desired, at schools that guarantee housing for four years.</p>
<p>We toured all the campuses on the âlikely fitâ list, and for final candidates, we went back at least three times each. This is a big decision, more so given circumstances, donât be discouraged from doing lots of research, comparison, and prowling.</p>
<p>Living in an engineering dorm can help mitigate the large size of an university. Having said that, many state schools only have dorm space for freshman and a few of the sophomores. </p>
<p>I encourage parents of all students to investigate the dorm stats / practices - they vary a lot from school to school. In our case, I simply didnât think weâd be ready to deal with off campus apartment logistics for a long-distance kid after just a year.</p>