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Transition to University

Marty

Hi, my son has AS, dyslexia & dyspraxia but has survived school & college and has secured a place at Southampton Solent University this September - his first time living away from home.

So far the University has been really supportive and I hope everything will work out ok.  However I'd be really interested to hear from either parents of other young people with Aspergers, or the students themselves, on the dos and don'ts of transition to University.

We'd also be really interested if your son/daughter, or you if you're the student, are either currently at, or are off to, Southampton Solent this year.

Thanks.

Parents

  • I have tried to make the point before on here, but I am concerned at the strategy that puts people on the spectrum into degree courses on the basis of removing barriers without thinking about whether it is helpful. There are two problems to honours degree courses: job prospects and the final year project.

    A degree is an artificial learning environment with limited relevance to the issues of finding a job. So there is little opportunity to improve the basic fitting in in a work environment problem. So you get a degree, build up confidence, often major improvements across the board, then it is all undermined by a still unsympathetic job market.

    The other thing is the final year project, self-directed study. It is a guaranteed worry creation activity. It is about demonstrating learned skills, not about highly focussed research. So some people on the spectrum will produce a detailed study that doesn't demonstrate the expected skills and get a low mark,  and consequently low degree result.

    I wish I could persuade NAS to review Higher Education options for people on the spoectrum, because I feel it is vital to find solutions that benefit students with AS, not try to fit AS students into unsuitable existing frameworks.

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  • I have tried to make the point before on here, but I am concerned at the strategy that puts people on the spectrum into degree courses on the basis of removing barriers without thinking about whether it is helpful. There are two problems to honours degree courses: job prospects and the final year project.

    A degree is an artificial learning environment with limited relevance to the issues of finding a job. So there is little opportunity to improve the basic fitting in in a work environment problem. So you get a degree, build up confidence, often major improvements across the board, then it is all undermined by a still unsympathetic job market.

    The other thing is the final year project, self-directed study. It is a guaranteed worry creation activity. It is about demonstrating learned skills, not about highly focussed research. So some people on the spectrum will produce a detailed study that doesn't demonstrate the expected skills and get a low mark,  and consequently low degree result.

    I wish I could persuade NAS to review Higher Education options for people on the spoectrum, because I feel it is vital to find solutions that benefit students with AS, not try to fit AS students into unsuitable existing frameworks.

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