Do colleges have too little structure for ND students?

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TheAutisticCrashDummy
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Joined: 2 Dec 2024
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Posts: 1

02 Dec 2024, 8:48 am

I've struggled for multiple semesters and recently came home once again. During all my semesters, I never got started on any assignments, I've kept thinking that I would eventually would, even if I were weeks behind. What really didn't help was how staff (a dean and a counselor in disability services) I talked to in one-on-one meetings gave me false hope, saying things along the lines that it would be possible to make plans that late and possibly pass classes. One dean I saw a month ago finally told me "Accomodations are not retroactive. Extensions are usually only for a few days and requested beforehand, not a whole month after! You're spending all of this money just to be in your room all day!! !" (god do I wish she was there for me during my first semester). I used to be a good student and didn't have problems initiating, and thought that once I would then I would be doing fine on assignments.

My school has resources for academic support and disability accommodations (I have a bunch which I never used because of said lack of initiation), but if faculty knew that I returned for a semester after failing multiple times (one did) then why wouldn't they help me at least initiate work? Or offer to set me up with someone that would? Is that too much to ask for? Is that babying or handholding? If that's what I really need, then is college just not for me? Either way I'm an idiot and it very likely is not.



SocOfAutism
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Joined: 2 Mar 2015
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,936

05 Dec 2024, 9:14 am

The answer is yes.

But you can find ways around that. If your college has teaching assistants, see if your professors can get you time with them. A teaching assistant is going to be either a graduate student who help the professor, or an upper level student. Either way, it would be someone with superior study and organization skills who can teach you their ways. You will have to ask them directly, though. Otherwise, they may just sit there and look at their phone. As any person would. Ask:

*What information is most important for this course?
*How do I make sure I am learning the information?
*How can I make a practical schedule for myself for coursework/studying?
*Is there a way to check behind myself to see how I am doing?

(I have four degrees and graduated Summa Cum Laude each time. Before college I had a second grade education. I am NT and not as smart as you would think.)