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Autism at University

NAS95971
3 days ago

My daughter just started at university and she's finding anxiety is crippling. She has an autism diagnosis. Now she is finding she is too anxious to go out of her room, and is really struggling. What advice do others have about this scenario?

She was adamant she wanted to try somewhere else away from home, and didn't take a year out either. I'm torn about what to do for the best, and worried about her mental health. 

Parents
  • 3 days ago

    Hi,

    I'm sorry to hear your daughter is finding university difficult, I certainly did when I started. I'm currently a third year.

    I would also recommend you recommend her to come join us on here, I like to think we're a supportive community.

    I have some questions to better guide my responses, and also some idea of what I currently have as support that help me at uni. 

    Can I ask what support she currently has in place? Does she have DSA or contact with the university disability team? 

    If you're happy to share, what university is she going to and what is she studying? Out of the two, what she's studying is more pertinent.

    To what extent is she struggling to go out of her room? Is she getting food? Does she have ensuite or is she having to leave to go to the bathroom? What about cooking? Has she done any freshers events thus far? What about academic stuff? Is she going to meetings, lectures or induction events?

    Now for stuff that helps me leave my room:

    I have a mentor provided by my university who I find really helps, and many have this provided by DSA. He has helped talk me through plans for going to individual events, starting small, and originally just academic stuff, but eventually joining some societies. He also helps with things like meal planning.

    I have special accommodation where I don't share a bathroom or cooking facilities in order to help me manage when I am overwhelmed and can't be around people. This was put in place when I stopped eating much in first year due to the effort to go to a communal kitchen where there might be other people. Not every uni can provide this though. 

    I have a student support document that allow me to do things like wear earplugs to lectures, and record them to review later, and access recording if I haven't been able to go.

    DSA have given me an app called brain in Hand, which also comes with support staff and support in setting it up. It's amazing, and it really helps me deal with unexpected events when I'm out, which helps remove some of the anxiety. 

    That's some of the things that really helped me, I can also give more specific advice when I understand more about the situation.

    Hope that helped a bit

Reply
  • 3 days ago

    Hi,

    I'm sorry to hear your daughter is finding university difficult, I certainly did when I started. I'm currently a third year.

    I would also recommend you recommend her to come join us on here, I like to think we're a supportive community.

    I have some questions to better guide my responses, and also some idea of what I currently have as support that help me at uni. 

    Can I ask what support she currently has in place? Does she have DSA or contact with the university disability team? 

    If you're happy to share, what university is she going to and what is she studying? Out of the two, what she's studying is more pertinent.

    To what extent is she struggling to go out of her room? Is she getting food? Does she have ensuite or is she having to leave to go to the bathroom? What about cooking? Has she done any freshers events thus far? What about academic stuff? Is she going to meetings, lectures or induction events?

    Now for stuff that helps me leave my room:

    I have a mentor provided by my university who I find really helps, and many have this provided by DSA. He has helped talk me through plans for going to individual events, starting small, and originally just academic stuff, but eventually joining some societies. He also helps with things like meal planning.

    I have special accommodation where I don't share a bathroom or cooking facilities in order to help me manage when I am overwhelmed and can't be around people. This was put in place when I stopped eating much in first year due to the effort to go to a communal kitchen where there might be other people. Not every uni can provide this though. 

    I have a student support document that allow me to do things like wear earplugs to lectures, and record them to review later, and access recording if I haven't been able to go.

    DSA have given me an app called brain in Hand, which also comes with support staff and support in setting it up. It's amazing, and it really helps me deal with unexpected events when I'm out, which helps remove some of the anxiety. 

    That's some of the things that really helped me, I can also give more specific advice when I understand more about the situation.

    Hope that helped a bit

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