Going Back to School Checklist

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* Make sure all other areas of your life are well-supported and stable before starting this venture: finances, housing, interpersonal relationships, physical and mental health, health care access, etc.
* Get an advocate on your local disability rights activism group to help you plan a reintegration strategy.
* Gain at least one ally on your school's staff, preferably one with disability competency.
* Contact your local AS support and service organization and ask them for personal references for educational assistants, as well as asking for names of anyone on the school staff or faculty who is well-versed in AS issues.
* Get appropriate AS-related accommodations for classwork, homework, small group work, testing, and social support. Hold meetings with your advocate, yourself, and your professors to explain your situation and your needs.
* Start slow. Don't jump into a full workload. Start with just one easy class, get used to going to the campus, showing up on time, meeting people, etc.
* Keep in close contact with your academic advisor, tutor, and disability advocate. Make sure that you are fulfilling your responsibilities for your current classes. Determine what your degree path will be in order to select the classes that will lead to that degree.
* If you're planning to go to a university, considers starting out at a community college where if you screw up it won't be a blot on your transcript or mess up your GPA (you're not required to disclose that information or transfer those credits, you may not even be able to transfer them)
* Get help learning about the campus student life: clubs, organizations, activities, sports, etc. Get help from the disability advocacy group on campus with social integration.
* Don't rant and complain to people who are on your side. Don't alienate people, especially those who can help or hurt you. Get yourself into therapy, even if you think you don't need it, so you'll have an appropriate place to vent your frustration. Create a plan for dealing with the increased stress BEFORE you even start. Practice your stress-management skills well in advance.
* If the plans get messed up, don't give up. Regroup and try again.

I have to add this because this messed me up:

If you are not able to have a part time or any job, it is not a good idea to work while going to school. It will mess up your studies and you will have burn out.

I have to agree 100%. Also, minimize the amount of extracurriculars you're doing during school time, keeping just the ones that can give you skills which will help you improve your performance on your courses.

good list, that sounds like a lot of things to do. I'm in college now and I've only done 2 of that while I was at the school. No wonder I have such a hard time.

This must have been written with Americans in mind. Those methods are unlikely to work in the UK unless the autism bill/autism strategy comes up.

We cant have access to mental health or advocates. Getting an ally and the right staff to help me in college/university has been sporadic. i left one university course because the man who was bullying me was too high up and no one would support me.

As for picking our classes and doing one at a time its not possible to do this and get funded in most cases in the UK.

i wanted to go to university get the work done, graduate then find work but it didn't happen like that.

i am trying to get stress management skills in order, not easy especially since whenever you ask for help around here you get told "we cant help you because your autistic".

Hello

i didn't have the opportunity of a longer weekend so anyone who has that i recommend you get as much work done as you can.
im not sure how it works in the UK ......but we have to take 3 classes per semester (unless like me you can get a doctors note and negotiate taking in on a part time basis).

So with a 3 day weekend i would do a different subject per day. Then it would be easier to concentrate hard on that subject and the end point could be when i got my evening meal or when i went to bed.

If your concentration tends to waiver easily then try and do a bit of each subject, so for a science qualification you might do 1 hour biology, 1 hour chemistry, 1 hour physics (then you can have breaks of meals or something else eg tv).

i tend to find that not being able to sleep at night means im on the pc doing coursework. Studies have shown that teenagers brains tend to wake up at 11am so try if you can doing the hardest subject 1st after 11am. End the day with something you enjoy or find easier that the other subjects.

Alexis

And use this guy's study tips. They are the best.

http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/03/27/w ... udy-hacks/

He has a couple of books out. Both are good, but much of the material is on his website. These aren't the usual study tips. They're based on actual strategies and attitudes of straight-A high-achieving students who actually have a life, not just a pointless grind of study.

Thanks for that link, Ladarzak. I got a lot out of it and have it bookmarked for reference.
I also really appreciated the list given above by sg33.

I am going back to study soon - in a few weeks actually - and have been making checklists such as these. Last time I went I didn't finish and partly for that reason it's really important to have support in other's opinions (and the strategies that they use) who aren't parents or similar kind of people (that I may feel criticised by).
I really have had to look at what is going to work FOR ME - after all, I'm really not going there this time to please anyone, or gain a degree in any statistical sense. I'm going there because I love to learn, especially about what really interests me, and because I want to further myself. I can say I am doing a lot of things differently (some dramatically differently) in my life this time around. Partly because of this my focus is different.

Thee majority of these changes have happened because I found about more about Aspergers and have been able to use understandings and strategies in my life to function better. It's been almost two years since I took the possibility seriously and over the last couple months I've been posting on WP a fair bit. It's good.

what is this, and where do i find one?

It might be a good idea to have links to revision and student websites/forums. You can sometimes find really useful links and tips to help with studying and other stuff.
I go on TSR (The student room) quite regularly although it has mainly UK students going on it.

This list is great, not just a helpful checklist, but as a validation that I am not alone in my past (current?) struggles.

This list is very useful. I started back to school today. Im doing night classes at a massage therapy school. I think that the key for me is that alot of it is hands on learning and if it is out of a book or a lecture its something Im very interested in. There are no general classes that I failed because of in 4 year college.

THANK YOU

best blog evar! well... best blog this morning, anyway

hello,
i am new here and enjoying this forum,
here is discussion topic is beautiful, for a while i have gone in my childhood and now missing my that cute days, and now there is a bit water in my eyes and ask about my school and college life,
i am really missing, any body go to school and college then there is my request guys enjoy your these days coz it will never come again,
love you all and take care.
from pakhot

I am loving this list it helps give me some good insider tips so I can prepare for my college lifestyle. I will definitly put this list into my head so I can put these helpful tips to good use.

Great tips. Thanks for sharing. I would like to add - Check for accreditation of the college