Transition to University.

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Hi there. I'm Troy McLure. You might remember me from such programmes as "When will we get there" and "aren't you ready yet". Wait, no. I'm not Troy McLure. I'm a seventeen-year-young boy from Cork, Ireland. In September, I will begin my final year at secondary (high) school. Then, in June, I have very important state exams, called the Leaving Certificate, and after that (if I do well in my exams) I'll hopefully get into college. I'm also leaving the fostercare system on 20th December, when I turn eighteen. Naturally, I'm agitated.

I will ask three questions in this post and then I'll ask your experiences of going to college/uni.
The first question: transition. I think I'd be correct in saying that Aspies have a harder time dealing with change than most people. We Aspies live by a "routine" and even the slightest hiccup upsets us. Well, I'm now at a phase in my life where I'm experiencing lots of change (despite the fact that puberty is almost over!)
1. Last Easter, following a gruelling screening process, I was diagnosed with Aspergers. While I'm happy with the diagnosis as it explains a lot of my social and behavioural problems, it's a lot to process.
2. I am a few short months from becoming an adult, and getting the responsibities that come with that.
3. I am almost finished my time at fostercare. Although I've been in the same fosterhome for many years and it will still be my home after I leave the system, the first few days without the foster-child label will be awkward. And I have that after-care programme to worry about.
4. I am sitting my Leaving Cert exams in a few short months. My future is determined by my success in these exams.
5. In September of this year, I'm probably going to have a special needs teacher, something which I haven't had before.
6. In June of next year, I'm leaving the school I've been in for the past six years. In September of next year, I'll be going to university.
7. I'll have to find part-time employment next summer, which will be a new experience.
8. I'll be moving into student accommodation, my first time being away from home for more than a week.

The last big transition I had was when I entered secondary school. which I found very difficult. Needless to say, I ended up suspended.
So do you have any advice on how I should best tackle the upcoming transitions? I'm afraid I'll go mad with the huge level of stress some of these changes will bring so yeah, advice would be greatly appreciated!

Secondly, owing to everything that was going on last year in terms of "coming out of the (homosexual) closet" and the Asperger's diagnosis, I was too stressed to do any studying for the exams. Thus, I now have one year to do a two-year course. I'm dedicated to the studying, becoming slightly obsessive over it, but do you have any advice on how to study? Sometimes, in subjects like French, I find myself forgetting what I learnt five minutes after learning it!

Lastly, up to now I've been shy and unsociable because, obviously, I find social situations difficult. Thus, I don't have anyone who I could consider a "friend" (who I hang out with). While it's all right this year as I'm more into my academics than socialising, I want to make some friends when I go to university. Also, due to a homophobic foster-mother and the fact that I'm not "ready", I still haven't gotten my first kiss. But I think I'd be ready to start dating (boys or girls; I'd like to experiment) when I go to college. Any advice on how to get a (social) life?!

Oh and what experiences do you have of college?

Hey there! I had a really great first year of college. Here's what I think you can do to have a great first year too:

The transition will be difficult, but you should get used to college after a few months. Try to plan fun activities to relieve the stress, just make sure you don't overschedule yourself. Try to learn your way around as early as possible: where your classes are, where to get food, where you can go for exercise or entertainment, etc.

Studying can be difficult, but you have to keep at it. Keep up with your homework, and you won't have to study as much. Don't study all at once, start a few days ahead of time and don't try to go too far past your attention span, take breaks when you need to.

Socially, the best thing you can do is be accessible to people. Hang out in the dorm lounge or common area, and do some of your studying outside your room around other people, and eventually they will want to get to know you. In my experience, most of the college students were friendlier and less judgmental than high school students. I don't really know much about dating, but I would suggest trying to meet dates the same way you try to meet friends.

As I said earlier, I found my first year of college to be unbelievably fun. I have many great friends who like to watch movies and play sports with me and I had a fun time in classes too. Going to school sporting events like football and basketball games was amazing and I loved all the adventures I had in a new city so far from home. Good luck, I hope you have a great time!

College is very, very different from high school.

Getting out of your dorm is key. If you never leave your dorm, you'll never meet people.

As an aspie, meeting people can be difficult, but being met is no more difficult than for an NT. Making yourself presentable is key. Don't be the guy that gets hazmat called because he doesn't bath for weeks and wears dirty clothes.

Seek out clubs that share your interests.

See if your school has a disability support group.

Two of my best friends I met my freshmen year. People are out of their element; and thus more open to being social.

All colleges and universities have an Equality or Disability Services department.

You need to get in touch with them now if you haven't already. They will help with setting up your course and any support you may need - the sooner you get an Assessment of Need through them the sooner they can support your transition, your diagnosis will give you access to funding from the DSA to support this.

They may, if they are any good, have an ASC specific service with mentors and tutors who specialise in supporting students with ASCs - they understand difficulties with change, sensory issues, social development, specific accommodation requirements, accessing resources like libraries, etc, etc. They also can help with negotiating adjustments for exams, lab work, etc, if you need them; they can help sort out the scrapes you are almost certainly going to end up in when you make mistakes (all students do!); and they are experts at understanding AS anxiety and fascinations.

As an ASC strategy support tutor myself, I know how important this service is to AS students and the difference it can make but unfortunately not all institutions have yet got such services in place - you need to ask Equality Services at the institution you want to go to as soon as possible. I know of a handful of universities and colleges that have it, mostly in the North of England - Leeds, Sheffield and York all have a service but I do know others have used the services of the company I work for - Brighton, a couple of London Universities - for individual students on a one off basis so your institution should be able to do the same if they don't have a specific service themselves though it would be distance support using email, skype, etc (you can PM me if you want the details to pass on to your institution). Also I know that Cambridge Maths Department has specific support for AS students.

Omg! Hello, you're the first other person living in Ireland that I've seen posting. I had an educational assessment last year and it was discovered that I probably have aspergers. I'm about to do the same thing as you will next year; going to college. I'm moving away from home for the first time in August hopefully. I know that it's going to be a challenge, what with sharing a house with other people but I think it will be okay.

It is very hard to process that for your whole life you've had a disability that you didn't know about isn't it? Take it one step at a time and it will be easier to deal with. Never let it hold you back from doing anything, ever!

Socially I've always had problems, it took me years to make friends in secondary school. Apparently once I relax I'm actually quite okay in social situations. I went to the Gaeltacht last summer as an experiment to prepare me for college...I nearly went insane during the first 2 weeks because I didn't know anyone but after a while it became bareable.

You know that you can apply for DARE (disability access route to education) which means that you don't have to get as many points as everyone else. http://www.accesscollege.ie/dare/index.php In September talk to your career guidance teacher about this, they'll be able to give you more information. If you have any questions feel free to ask me; I've just successfully applied for DARE. Don't rely on it though because you're not guaranteed to get it. You also don't find out if you get DARE until July so you have to study.

As regards for studying effectively you need to have regular breaks in between studying. For example every 20 minutes take a 5 minute break; it depends on how long you're able to concentrate without a break for. Your method of studying also depends on your learning style, do you learn by saying things out loud, do you learn by looking at pictures, do you learn by acting it out, do you learn by writing notes out etc. I learned my Hamlet quotes (yours is Macbeth I think?) by acting them out and I had someone run lines with me. Check out Eircom Studyhub (not advertising), it has lots of online lectures for leaving cert subjects. With French try and listen to French radio stations, read French articles, speak French daily even for a few minutes.

Never underestimate the value of doing your homework every night, it is actually a form of studying if it's done right. Listening in class is also invaluable, it saves you lots of time when you're trying to learn the information later on that night. I also found making the information into a story helped me. You need to have a clear head before you start trying to study, take a short walk before you start studying so you can focus. All the usual advice, sleep well, eat well, play well. It's so important though to get a good night's sleep, I used to fall asleep in class so some chapters were completely new to me when I tried to learn them so don't stay up too late

Predictions can be the death of you, do not rely on them. You have to know the course properly now, there's no leaving things out. I'm sure you heard about the Plath/Heaney not appearing on the English paper drama. Avoiding really sugary foods helps you study because you're not as figetty, you won't crash as fast etc. Eat plenty of unrefined carbs e.g. brown bread as energy release is slower and you won't get hungry as fast, thus not wasting precious study time.

During Sixth year you need to study on weekends but time table it so that you get enough relaxation time. It may seem like hell but it'll be worth it in the end. Making study plans works for some people to focus them, have specific aims though e.g. don't just say "study English" say insteed "study my comparative text for English", you're more likely to do it then. Midterms will also have to be used for studying, leave some days free but you need to do something on them, Christmas and Easter are the most important breaks that you need to study on. Christmas for the mocks, Easter for the Leaving.

Trust me, you're not the only one who didn't study in Fifth year, most of my friends didn't. You can still come out with a good Leaving Cert. You have to start from day one though. How I studied was I went to after school study at my school where I wrote out notes for my subjects using different colour pens, it adds interest and you're more likely to remember that info. I used mindmaps, I drew pictures. For geography I used to record myself saying the information out loud and then I played it back to myself while I was on the bus on the way to school. This might work for you. Give yourself treats after you've studied but not too many If I did all of my homework and study I treated myself by watching "Grey's Anatomy".

Yeah, all of the changes have been really scary, I'm about to move away from home for the first time etc. You know what's helping me? I've been buying things preparing me for college during 6th year e.g. buying a nice blanket to make the change less scary. What I've found to help about dealing with unexpected changes, assuming that all of my plans will have some flaw e.g. I'm ten minutes behind schedule etc.

Make sure once you get to college you get involved with some clubs or sports, you'll make friends there and get to know others on your course. Making friends that are doing the same course as you is also important because they'll share some of your interests and will be able to help you if you're stuck with any particular aspect of the course. There's a lot of help there for people with any disability in college, they can give you copies of their notes, learning support etc you just have to get in touch with them.

As for not being kissed yet, don't worry in college things will be different at least you know what direction that you want to take. In my experience sometimes when you're not looking for a relationship, they happen. I just became good friends with someone and they ended up becoming my boyfriend. That was almost 4 years ago and we're still together.

Do you know what coure that you want to do yet as a matter of interest? I haven't been to college yet but you can PM me or whatever if you have any questions about it during the year. Make sure you go to college open days and get in contact with their disability support representatives, they're really helpful as they can tell you what type of support is available to you during your studies there. You can even email the colleges with any questions that you have about college.