My daughters High functioning autism is holding her back from attending college. Learning support have been brilliant and very patient, but despite everyone's efforts she still struggles with attending even tjough she wants to.
How do i keep her motivated to get her back into the swing of going.
This is a difficult one. It depends on the individual and what happened to them at school. I assume it is 6th form or otherwise within secondary, rather than further education - when people say college these days it usually seems to mean for extension of school studies.
The two environments differ in that FE college will be much more independent in structure and much less intervention. Some FE colleges have good disability support infrastructures, some don't - I'm not clear what goes on in the 6th form type, probably a lot less.
We are all affected in different ways by autism, different degrees of different parameters, so it is hard to generalise. And personality plays a part, as does levels of confidence and self esteem.
It is probably true some of the time that a college is more liberating, less interventionist with less peer-pressure. There is less likely to be bullying. You don't usually have to explain why you are where you are rather than in class. You therefore have more freedom to find safe space and avoid conflict areas. So sometimes that kind of environment is really beneficial to someone on the spectrum. But, for some people it doesn't run smoothly at all, and it can be quite destructive.
Loss of structure could be a factor. Schools do tend to expect you to be somewhere you are timetabled to be, and people move around in cohorts that you can identify with (even if they are not friendly). A college environment means you have to know where you are meant to be when, and there is less likely to be anyone chasing you for not being there. So a timetable that covers not only studies but other activities might help.
A mentor would also be useful - someone sympathetic and understanding who can just make sure she goes where she should, and has explanations, would help. Not necessarily easy to set up. Key workers have been mentioned, there might be a note-taker provided - but not everyone wants to have a visible "hand holder".
School may not be great fun for people on the spectrum, but it sort of cares for you, in a way that colleges just don't. So a college can be a really strange place. It can be quite hard to find rooms where classes take place. The kinds of rooms used for teaching can be very different, and smell different (eg laboratories), and have very different lighting, and can be noisy at times, or crowded. A lecture room, if well filled, can mean close proximity to others, being in the middle of a sensory world without means of escape. Often much harder to leave if distressed if everyone has to shift to let you pass.
So a map may help, and some assistance over where to sit, or how to best deal with some room types.
Eating facilities can be very noisy. School lunch is usually ordered and eaten with a modicum of noise under supervision. College canteens are usually crowded, with loud background music, people milling everywhere, people lounging, messing around, arguing, shouting - really hard to engage with if your sensory world isn't well adapted. I don't know what it is about student eating habits - it just seems to revel in overcrowded, noisy, jarring environments. The problem is - where do you sit... if you're a loner? But there may be alternatives, and maybe taking sandwiches and finding somewhere quiet is an option.
My advice, if she is willing, is to talk to her about what college is like. What parts of it present difficulties. From what you know about what she finds hard, are any of these things putting he off going.
The change from school to college is not automatically easy for someone on the spectrum, and there may be things you wouldn't give a thought to that are putting her off going.
This is a difficult one. It depends on the individual and what happened to them at school. I assume it is 6th form or otherwise within secondary, rather than further education - when people say college these days it usually seems to mean for extension of school studies.
The two environments differ in that FE college will be much more independent in structure and much less intervention. Some FE colleges have good disability support infrastructures, some don't - I'm not clear what goes on in the 6th form type, probably a lot less.
We are all affected in different ways by autism, different degrees of different parameters, so it is hard to generalise. And personality plays a part, as does levels of confidence and self esteem.
It is probably true some of the time that a college is more liberating, less interventionist with less peer-pressure. There is less likely to be bullying. You don't usually have to explain why you are where you are rather than in class. You therefore have more freedom to find safe space and avoid conflict areas. So sometimes that kind of environment is really beneficial to someone on the spectrum. But, for some people it doesn't run smoothly at all, and it can be quite destructive.
Loss of structure could be a factor. Schools do tend to expect you to be somewhere you are timetabled to be, and people move around in cohorts that you can identify with (even if they are not friendly). A college environment means you have to know where you are meant to be when, and there is less likely to be anyone chasing you for not being there. So a timetable that covers not only studies but other activities might help.
A mentor would also be useful - someone sympathetic and understanding who can just make sure she goes where she should, and has explanations, would help. Not necessarily easy to set up. Key workers have been mentioned, there might be a note-taker provided - but not everyone wants to have a visible "hand holder".
School may not be great fun for people on the spectrum, but it sort of cares for you, in a way that colleges just don't. So a college can be a really strange place. It can be quite hard to find rooms where classes take place. The kinds of rooms used for teaching can be very different, and smell different (eg laboratories), and have very different lighting, and can be noisy at times, or crowded. A lecture room, if well filled, can mean close proximity to others, being in the middle of a sensory world without means of escape. Often much harder to leave if distressed if everyone has to shift to let you pass.
So a map may help, and some assistance over where to sit, or how to best deal with some room types.
Eating facilities can be very noisy. School lunch is usually ordered and eaten with a modicum of noise under supervision. College canteens are usually crowded, with loud background music, people milling everywhere, people lounging, messing around, arguing, shouting - really hard to engage with if your sensory world isn't well adapted. I don't know what it is about student eating habits - it just seems to revel in overcrowded, noisy, jarring environments. The problem is - where do you sit... if you're a loner? But there may be alternatives, and maybe taking sandwiches and finding somewhere quiet is an option.
My advice, if she is willing, is to talk to her about what college is like. What parts of it present difficulties. From what you know about what she finds hard, are any of these things putting he off going.
The change from school to college is not automatically easy for someone on the spectrum, and there may be things you wouldn't give a thought to that are putting her off going.
