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Do i keep trying with College attendance.

M_Guest71.

Hi All

I've just joined as I'm feeling lost as to what to do.  My daughter was diagnosed with autism 3years ago.  She completed her 1st year in College with minimum disruption and really enjoyed the course (Fashion and Design BTech level 3). The start to her second year was difficult due to last-minute changes, and she ended up taking a year out due to burnout and being overwhelmed.  The College were supportive and agreed to the year out, and she started her 2nd year this September.  She has a learning support plan, although it feels like a piece of paper with things written on it, rather than something to help her.

She managed the 1st 3 weeks really well, then started to struggle with being overwhelmed, executive function and getting started in the mornings.  I have now left work to support her through the next 6 months as she really wants to finish the course and go to University.  She's already been offered 2 University places, which she is pleased about.  At the moment, she is experiencing shutdown, has become non verbal, needs support to eat and drink and with self-care and is sleeping for approx. 16 hrs a day.  I have been liaising with the College, but with little response.

I have just sent the following to College:

I feel it is time to update xxxxx learning support plan to reflect her current difficulties with anxiety, sensory overload, and executive dysfunction, which have resulted in autism shutdown.  I would ideally like to schedule a meeting before the end of the Christmas term, if possible, to explore the reasonable adjustments the College can make to support her with neurodiversity and mental health.

 
I would ask that the following be considered:
 
Reasonable Adjustments for Attendance

Can the College formally adjust the attendance requirements, especially when xxxxxx autism makes structured daily attendance difficult?  This could include:

  • remote learning
  • alternative supervised sessions
  • adapted timetables
  • reduced presence on campus
  • arranged 1:1 or quiet-room study
  • extensions or flexible deadlines
  • absence exemptions - documented, disability-related absences marked as "exempt" rather than "absent" on registers.
  • online/hybrid participation options when possible to ensure access to course content when physical attendance is difficult.

Special Consideration for Final Grades

I'm not aware that xxxxxx has missed a deadline or assessment, and this requirement may not need to be considered if the above can be implemented and improves her attendance. However, if she continues to experience difficulties, would the College consider applying for special consideration from the awarding body?

It's painful watching my daughter trying to get into College, I practice low-demand parenting to reduce any pressure, but I'm stuck between her goal to get to Uni and the reality of what is currently 65% attendance.  The College are predicting Distinctions accross the board, so she can do the work.  I'll push the College for the above, but if she still can't make it in, what happens next?  

Does the above sound reasonable to anyone?  Can anyone share their experience of difficulties with College that might help me?  Also, any practical advice re supporting her through a shutdown and how long it will last would be appreciated.

Thanks, Michaela

Parents
  • M_Guest71. said:
    Does the above sound reasonable to anyone? 

    In a word - no. I will qualify this in detail as I have a particular knowledge of fashion design courses at uni level.

    My wife attended the London College of Fashion course of womenswear design at both degree and masters and I spent a lot of time as her backup as the coursework can be incredibly demanding.

    Looking through the items you are suggesting:

    1 - remote learning. These courses are very hands-on and involve a great deal of learning techniques, using industrial machinery and using specialist tools that are only available in the uni labs. This big part of the work cannot be done remotely.

    A lot of the other work can be, especially preparing collections for the end of course but without the exposure to the tools and mastering them then this will drop the grade significantly.

    2 / 3 - alternative supervised sessions & adapted timetable. This may work for some things, but the staff have a lot of other classes to teach (other courses and years of students plus industry connections to manage) so if you cannot get them in their class they rarely will offer time to catch up as they don't have it.

    4 - reduced presence on campus. There is a so much that she will miss out on by doing this - there was a lot of group activity and socialisation going on with the people on the course that being absent will lead to her being excluded by them I fear.

    5 - arranged 1:1 or quiet-room study. much like points 2 & 3 - resources are restricted due to being in high demand and staff are going to be hard to persuade to do this.

    6 - extensions or flexible deadlines. This is quite possible.

    7 - absence exemptions.  This is quite possible.

    8 - online/hybrid participation options. Not really something that works in this course. See points 2 & 3 for why.

    The biggest single element that she may work with is the end of year collection - this is incredibly labour intensive and she can probably access the labs when she needs to for this - the technicians are assigned to help with this sort of thing at this stage in the year.

    It is often hugely stressful as designing a collection, making patterns for it, making the samples then adapting until it looks right takes a lot of time. Now do it for a whole collection of items and it becomes months worth of work to do in a few weeks. 

    My wife is neurotypical and I had to help her a lot with this plus help her with her own mental health as the work was so demanding and the lecturers were, err, personalities (to be polite about it - a-holes if I'm not being polite). They were mostly faded stars who had taken up teaching and still had lots of good industry contacts, but they were divas one and all.

    This was almost 20 years ago and I hope it has improved.

    Sorry if this was not what you wanted to hear - it is worth finding out what they can not offer as I think this will have improved.

    Fashion is a really tough gig and I think this course does toughen you up enough to survive in the wild.

    M_Guest71. said:
    any practical advice re supporting her through a shutdown and how long it will last

    NAS have a good article covering this:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/meltdowns/all-audiences

Reply
  • M_Guest71. said:
    Does the above sound reasonable to anyone? 

    In a word - no. I will qualify this in detail as I have a particular knowledge of fashion design courses at uni level.

    My wife attended the London College of Fashion course of womenswear design at both degree and masters and I spent a lot of time as her backup as the coursework can be incredibly demanding.

    Looking through the items you are suggesting:

    1 - remote learning. These courses are very hands-on and involve a great deal of learning techniques, using industrial machinery and using specialist tools that are only available in the uni labs. This big part of the work cannot be done remotely.

    A lot of the other work can be, especially preparing collections for the end of course but without the exposure to the tools and mastering them then this will drop the grade significantly.

    2 / 3 - alternative supervised sessions & adapted timetable. This may work for some things, but the staff have a lot of other classes to teach (other courses and years of students plus industry connections to manage) so if you cannot get them in their class they rarely will offer time to catch up as they don't have it.

    4 - reduced presence on campus. There is a so much that she will miss out on by doing this - there was a lot of group activity and socialisation going on with the people on the course that being absent will lead to her being excluded by them I fear.

    5 - arranged 1:1 or quiet-room study. much like points 2 & 3 - resources are restricted due to being in high demand and staff are going to be hard to persuade to do this.

    6 - extensions or flexible deadlines. This is quite possible.

    7 - absence exemptions.  This is quite possible.

    8 - online/hybrid participation options. Not really something that works in this course. See points 2 & 3 for why.

    The biggest single element that she may work with is the end of year collection - this is incredibly labour intensive and she can probably access the labs when she needs to for this - the technicians are assigned to help with this sort of thing at this stage in the year.

    It is often hugely stressful as designing a collection, making patterns for it, making the samples then adapting until it looks right takes a lot of time. Now do it for a whole collection of items and it becomes months worth of work to do in a few weeks. 

    My wife is neurotypical and I had to help her a lot with this plus help her with her own mental health as the work was so demanding and the lecturers were, err, personalities (to be polite about it - a-holes if I'm not being polite). They were mostly faded stars who had taken up teaching and still had lots of good industry contacts, but they were divas one and all.

    This was almost 20 years ago and I hope it has improved.

    Sorry if this was not what you wanted to hear - it is worth finding out what they can not offer as I think this will have improved.

    Fashion is a really tough gig and I think this course does toughen you up enough to survive in the wild.

    M_Guest71. said:
    any practical advice re supporting her through a shutdown and how long it will last

    NAS have a good article covering this:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/behaviour/meltdowns/all-audiences

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