My son with asbergers has just started university and despite getting disability services at university involved the support is totally inadequate. He is feeling isolated, disorientated and anxious after less than a week. Does anyone else have experience of this and strategies to help I him get through this so he can stay to do the course he has worked so hard to get on to?
I would have advised a pre-meeting with student services and also your son having a tour of university facilities first thing (not the collective tour of the library/student services, computer suite that is imposed on students). He needed a personal opportunity to familiarise with camps before it filled up with students
Key issues are - is he in halls or travelling from home? Does he understand his timetable? Has he access to quiet spaces, to eat and to study and relax? Does he know how to meet other students?
Halls may not be suitable for people on the spectrum. A lot of parents just see the cute little study room with a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and sometimes an en suite loo and shower, otherwise shared facilities,. It is more than that. Whether in a flat of 6 to 8 rooms each flat with its kitchen and communal space, or a corridor of twenty rooms with communal kitchen and utility, the problem if you are on the spectrum is whether you can cope in the communal areas. If you cannot then you end of stuck in that little room seeing no-one. And the walls are thin...its not a quiet little refuge, its getting loud sound in all directions.
The timetable is tricky. Each lecture may be with a different body of students - ie he wont tend to have the same classmates. That means getting used to different subject cohorts' different ways of socialising. It is quite hard to adjust to this without autism in the way. He cannot just follow someone who seems to know where to go next.
Quiet spaces are hard to find. Student restaurants are noisy - often piped music (background), big rooms full of tables many people talking at once. If you cannot get into a social group that dine together, you end up looking for a table with other marginals. Libraries may not be quiet - staff shortages usually mean quite a lot of hi-jinks in libraries. Computer terminals may be blaring out music. Some people are constantly talking on their mobiles, sometimes you can hear them half way across the library.
Meeting other students is very difficult if you cannot attach yourself to a group. Its an environment suited to socially adept NTs. There will be a word of mouth network about where people are going to hang out next. If you are on the spectrum you quickly end up in limbo. But some clubs and societies can provide a way out. A chess club might be a means of socialising. There may be a film club...quieter environment.
Universities flourish around the idea of sharing in knowledge (whether that's what you are their to learn, or having fun outside that). If you are on the spectrum that can be difficult.
Also if you are a bit different you will likely get shunned, or isolated or bullied...and there aint no prefects or form teachers around to check.
I would have advised a pre-meeting with student services and also your son having a tour of university facilities first thing (not the collective tour of the library/student services, computer suite that is imposed on students). He needed a personal opportunity to familiarise with camps before it filled up with students
Key issues are - is he in halls or travelling from home? Does he understand his timetable? Has he access to quiet spaces, to eat and to study and relax? Does he know how to meet other students?
Halls may not be suitable for people on the spectrum. A lot of parents just see the cute little study room with a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and sometimes an en suite loo and shower, otherwise shared facilities,. It is more than that. Whether in a flat of 6 to 8 rooms each flat with its kitchen and communal space, or a corridor of twenty rooms with communal kitchen and utility, the problem if you are on the spectrum is whether you can cope in the communal areas. If you cannot then you end of stuck in that little room seeing no-one. And the walls are thin...its not a quiet little refuge, its getting loud sound in all directions.
The timetable is tricky. Each lecture may be with a different body of students - ie he wont tend to have the same classmates. That means getting used to different subject cohorts' different ways of socialising. It is quite hard to adjust to this without autism in the way. He cannot just follow someone who seems to know where to go next.
Quiet spaces are hard to find. Student restaurants are noisy - often piped music (background), big rooms full of tables many people talking at once. If you cannot get into a social group that dine together, you end up looking for a table with other marginals. Libraries may not be quiet - staff shortages usually mean quite a lot of hi-jinks in libraries. Computer terminals may be blaring out music. Some people are constantly talking on their mobiles, sometimes you can hear them half way across the library.
Meeting other students is very difficult if you cannot attach yourself to a group. Its an environment suited to socially adept NTs. There will be a word of mouth network about where people are going to hang out next. If you are on the spectrum you quickly end up in limbo. But some clubs and societies can provide a way out. A chess club might be a means of socialising. There may be a film club...quieter environment.
Universities flourish around the idea of sharing in knowledge (whether that's what you are their to learn, or having fun outside that). If you are on the spectrum that can be difficult.
Also if you are a bit different you will likely get shunned, or isolated or bullied...and there aint no prefects or form teachers around to check.
