The transition to college poses a new challenge. As with the transition to high school, the stress of this transition can be greatly alleviated with enough planning. If a college education is something you and your child are preparing for, then the transition planning should not only include preparatory work for standardized testing (SAT, ACT), but should also aim to identify a young adult’s strengths and weaknesses to evaluate which schools will best fit his or her needs. Thus, you should get an early start on the process and consider extra steps to ease the transition, such as enrolling your young adult in courses at a community college or trade school, or going to informational meetings at local colleges.
The process of choosing the right school deserves very careful thought. A parent should consider all the options, investigate which programs are available at each school, set the requirements necessary for their young adult, and one by one eliminate all the colleges that do not meet these requirements. Community colleges or two-year programs may be a good transition, because your child will be able to live at home during the beginning of his/her college experience, allowing the transition into college life to proceed more gradually. You can also consider certificate programs for your child’s specific interests.
Don’t hesitate to visit college campuses and speak with guidance counselors during this process to explore all the available options and services. The schools’ admissions counselors will most likely be the best individuals to inform you of what to expect for your child. It is important to find out what types of disability-related resources each campus offers to their students, and what needs to be done to gain access to these services. Talk carefully with your child to make sure he or she understands what services will be available to him/her on campus.
Once a decision had been made, and the young adult is accepted into a college, he or she begins a new life, where, for the first time, the young adult must depend on himself or herself more than anybody else.
A few helpful institutions realize how difficult it is for a young adult with autism to adjust to their new lifestyle and responsibility on a college campus. Some are even beginning to address autism directly and are providing immediate services and technologies specifically for people with ASDs. In particular, The University of Arizona and Georgia State University have been inspirational and admirable in their efforts to provide educational support, and they are continuing to enhance this support. Below are the links to the websites that describe the service programs at each of these colleges:
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