2nd time he dropped out (two semesters in a row)

Page 1 of 1 [ 5 posts ] 

LoveHim
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 27 Aug 2010
Age: 62
Gender: Female
Posts: 115

07 Nov 2010, 10:34 am

My friend has been living in a supported community for folks on the spectrum. He was also enrolled in college. He was overwhelmed with community life requirements and dropped out the 1st college semester. He recommitted to focusing on school for the 2nd semester but got overwhelmed again and dropped out. This person is very capable of doing college level math/science/economics. He did not fail because the subject matter was too hard but likely the organizational/responsibility issues of college was too much for him even with tutors trying to keep him on track. He says college is no longer for him (in the near future) and he is planning on leaving his supported community. It's all bad from the outside looking in.
He does get disability now and will get funding for housing with a host family (not blood related family) so his housing/food needs will be fine. The problem is this: he's brilliant!! ! He is a walking encyclopedia. But he just can't handle structure/responsibility/accountability and is very stubborn about doing things on his own time (and they rarely get done). He needs the structure of the supported community but refuses to follow their program and accept their assistance. Then he can't handle school because he's not being supported. Vicious cycle. Comments? Advice?
Thanks.



Darkmysticdream
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 15 Aug 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 103
Location: Charlottesville, VA

07 Nov 2010, 11:08 am

The one way that I managed college was by doing it all online. I went to American Public University that has an undergrad book scholarship and you can take one class at a time (classes start every month instead of having traditional semesters). You have assignments and discussion boards but no F2F interactions or mandatory times to "show up" online.

It worked extremely well for me being able to do school when I had insomnia or had down time and was in the mood instead of traditional schools where I had to take a certain number of classes and deal with being a specific place at a specific time.

I highly recommend something like that since it gives your friend the ability to control how much he has to do at any given time and he can do classes one at a time or more with no set semester structure to limit when classes are offered.



Moog
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Feb 2010
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,671
Location: Untied Kingdom

07 Nov 2010, 12:12 pm

Online study sounds great... wonder if I can do something like that.


_________________
Not currently a moderator


Darkmysticdream
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 15 Aug 2009
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 103
Location: Charlottesville, VA

07 Nov 2010, 1:02 pm

https://www.apu.apus.edu/

Thats the address for the school I go to.



ddrapayo
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 207

10 Nov 2010, 8:22 pm

I don't know your friend's situation fully, but I'd advise him to look into a school with a good disabilities program. I did a summer college program at a local college the summer before I started college for real, and the disabilties person there told us that when I applied to college, I should definitely make sure it has a disabilities PROGRAM and not just services. Which I did. UConn has not only a Center for Students with Disabilities (which is actually it's own office as opposed to some schools where they basically had a corner room in the academic center) but also a program specifically for students with Aspergers. It's been very helpful so far. I don't know which school your friend goes to, and even if I did chances are I couldn't say what their disabilities program/services are like, but he (and anyone else with AS or any other disability who is reading this) should definitely speak with the disabilities people, ideally at your first visit to the school but definitely no later than November or December senior year (and earlier if you want Early Decision). I also applied to Bryant University, and the disabilities services (they had no program there) were awful. We had to explain what AS was (seriously? I mean we had to do that when I was going into kindergarten but that was in 1997, back when autism was still some unknown disorder and an internet search for Asperger's Syndrome yielded 3 results). Also at one point, we mentioned that I would probably need a scribe for any graphs in math (more due to dysgraphia than AS; that is I cannot handwrite at all, even remotely legibly, for anything other than maybe multiple choice tests, and even then no Scantrons, since I have to do the little bubbles). Anyway, the woman's response was "We can get you large print test booklets." Huh? My dad walked out and said "I think I'm going to be sick". That's how bad they were. Or maybe how sensitive my dad's stomach is. Probably a little bit of both. Because they were bad, but not really nauseating. But definitely tell your friend that he should contact his school's disability department and see what they can do for him, and if they seem terrible, maybe think about transferring. And he may not want to have the initial meeting alone, so tell him to bring a friend or family member, although ultimately when he actually enrolls again he'll need to be prepared to meet with them alone.