Planning for university

My son is 18, has aspergers and currently at a sixth form college. He is very scientific and 'mathy' but has struggled his whole life long with expressing himself with writing, and even the physical process of writing with pen and paper. His college lend him a laptop and he has extra time in exams.

As he would like to go on to university to study computer science and I would like to encourage him to reach his potential and find a niche in the adult world, we went to a university open day last week. I targeted the 'Student Support Accessibilty' Desk and they said for him to get any kind of support at (any) uni he needs to arrange an Educational Psychologist Assessment (EPA) and it was likely to cost us about £300, before going through other administrative hoops with the county council etc. to get all the right forms.

I was surprised that we have to pay at all, and so much for what I suppose is a diagnosis. He was diagnosed at 11 (going through our GP) and has had various special needs assistance through school.

Before I start the process of looking into all this (which I will do, and start saving up!) does anyone know if this is true about having to pay for this EPA ? Is help only available to those who can afford it?

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Parents
  • Thank you, longman. You have certainly given me a lot to think about and look into. We are making the first steps to even considering university. He is showing a strong interest and we feel we ought to help him explore the possibilities of university further. The alternative is  the jobseeker queue or dull factory work if he is lucky. I'm taking what you have said on board.

     

Reply
  • Thank you, longman. You have certainly given me a lot to think about and look into. We are making the first steps to even considering university. He is showing a strong interest and we feel we ought to help him explore the possibilities of university further. The alternative is  the jobseeker queue or dull factory work if he is lucky. I'm taking what you have said on board.

     

Children
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