There has been some great information about school recommendations or what to look for when doing the college search process for neurodiverse students, but they’re often lodged away in threads that are particular to a specific family’s situation. This thread is meant to be a general resource on the topic so that people can ask questions and share their knowledge.
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I’ll start this off with:
Lynn University
Adelphi U
Mercyhurst U
Marist
U Denver
U Arizona
DePaul
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Parent of a neurodiverse college freshman here - my advice would be to understand that all colleges and universities are different when it comes to services for your ND kid. When looking at schools for majors, locations, sports and Greek life, don’t forget to investigate their DS departments as well! When considering the ‘where,’ it is important to have a thorough understanding of the ‘what’ in terms of what will be offered to assist your student.
Some colleges require a ‘current’ assessment in order to provide accommodations, some do not. Some have pretty substantial disability services departments, some do not. The accommodations they received in high school are not necessarily what they will also receive in college.
Also - ND students will (continue to) need to be their own best advocate - so if that’s a challenge for them in HS it will be an even bigger challenge in college.
Thanks @AustenNut for opening up the space to share!
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Once they get to college, your student will need to contact whatever office covers their accommodations (they are called different things at different schools) themselves. They usually will not deal with a parent. If this is something they have never done before, have them contact the offices of each school with a list of questions, with you available to coach them if needed, so that they are comfortable doing it in the future. Not only is it good practice, but you will also get a feel for how user-friendly the office is.
Good questions:
What documentation is needed for accommodations?
What accommodations can be offered for (specific disability)?
What other resources do you provide?
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Thanks for starting this thread. The focus on the other thread, and probably here, is on in-person schools, but I would like to get on the table the idea that for some neurodiverse students an online university may work well. My daughter is an online student at Arizona State University and is having a great experience. She has a form of epilepsy that makes it difficult for her to read print at a normal pace or to process an in-person lecture in one go. In-person classes became very difficult for her, and she completed her last three years of high school at an online school - Laurel Springs - and realized the format works well for her. With ASU Online she uses a tool to convert written materials into spoken and then she can listen to the spoken material as many times as she needs to get it all. It is possible to request accommodations as an online student but she hasn’t pursued this and is an A student using “her” method. The program itself is very good. Some of the GE classes are a little impersonal - a math class that relies mostly on Aleks, etc. - but many of her classes, and professors, have been excellent. The students in the Online program receive a regular ASU degree with nothing signalling “online,” and the program is an integrated part of ASU. They are also able to apply for admission to the Barrett honors school. The teachers and TAs are responsive and the school also provides each online student with a “success coach” and other types of support. The classes also almost all use discussion and feedback boards that enable/require the students to interact and critique, and those interactions are meaningful. Her classmates are all over the place - we are in France - and in all types of situations. There are a lot of barristas, who are obtaining their degrees via a program that enables Starbucks employees to obtain a free bachelors degree with ASU Online. The students are an interesting and highly-motivated group, and there a lot of group chats running on the side. It’s not for everyone, but we have been very impressed with the education our daughter is receiving, and I thought it might be of interest to others whose kids might find in-person college challenging for whatever reason.
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As the parent of a ND kid, I would also like to add: Consider small LA colleges. While the larger schools are great, we found they also come with a great deal more bureaucracy. In a small-school environment there is automatically more familiarity and, therefore, less bureaucracy and more adaptability.
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Today we are very cognizant of neurodiverse people and many more people are diagnosed with autism, ADHD, etc. and receive counseling or treatment than when I was growing up (but then, I’m old). When I was starting out, people would just say “John from engineering has no social skills” or “Jane from IT is awkward”. Despite their differences, John and Jane were able to hold good jobs and be self sufficient.
I have two high-IQ/ADHD boys with social issues. Our older son did well in high school and was accepted by six of the seven engineering schools to which he applied, including two top 10 programs. He chose Case Western over higher ranked schools because he liked the campus and school claimed to provide a lot of student support. We were worried about him going away to school, but he has really excelled there so far. Not only is he pulling strong grades, but he is “adulting” - getting to the airport and catching flights, registering for classes, registering for internships, taking care of his medical appointments, etc. - very well. If you had told us during his junior year in HS that he would be doing this well in college we would not have believed you.
Yes, he calls home to rant about classmates and professors. Yes, he complains that he is having trouble making friends. Yes, we have to remind him that he is doing well and everyone has some hurdle to overcome. Yes, we still have to coach him on social situations.
I guess my point is that your neurodiverse kid can do a lot more than you might think, just as John and Jane did before everyone knew about ADHD and aspergers. If your kid is like mine, they may not need a special program that caters to neurodiverse students or even accommodations (my son debated requesting accommodations at Case, and opted not to). Colleges today offer a lot more in the way of counseling, mental health support, and emotional support than in the dark ages when I did my undergrad. Your student may be able to take advantage of these common resources without entering a special program.
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For STEM kids there are some small schools like Rose Hulman that focus on undergraduate education and have small classes and professors who self-select for teaching over research. Think of them as the LACs of the engineering world.
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Explore the school culture around accommodations. S23 has several accommodations and attends a large state flagship. He always meets with the professors within the first week of class to introduce himself and the general response has been “let me know if there is anything else I can do”. He really hasn’t even needed to use his accommodations as all of his professors so far have used universal accommodations (notes before class, accommodations for bubbling, permission to record, etc) and that seems to be encouraged throughout the university. I even noticed that there were “sensory friendly” activities and breakout sessions listed on the orientation schedule.
I would also contact the res. life and dining offices if dorm or dietary accommodations are needed. If they don’t want to talk to you until you register, I’d take that as a red flag. People that are great at things like to show them off.
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I agree so strongly with this!!
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I generally agree that smaller schools are better in that students get caught up in less bureaucracy than at larger schools. With that said, not all small private colleges are good at this and the power of student services varies, as of course does the individual faculty who are in a position to help make things work or make it a living nightmare. So I think it invariably comes down to diligence on a school by school basis, and that’s easier said that done. Every school’s student services people say they support students, and you’re not going to find many who will admit, “hey, we try but the President doesn’t back us and we are powerless against recalcitrant faculty.” But believe me, that is sometimes the case.
So if I had to limit my advice on this to one thing, this would be it: the administrative power that Student Services has within the context of their school, be it large and public or small and private, is everything. One with a ND child should absolutely assume they are going to run into faculty who are not only not very thoughtful or understanding, but in some cases outright mean spirited and purposefully obstinate. No surprise there; the world is full of jerks, and higher ed doesn’t exactly filter them out. In that case, the ability of Student Services to lean in and advocate with some authority behind them is critical. Faculty by tradition maintain A LOT of discretion and independence in how they run their courses.
I don’t have an inventory of schools where I can say with conviction which are weak or strong in this regard. I wish I did. I have chosen to not disclose where my ADHD kiddo attended for a few reasons that relate to maintaining her privacy. It is a well regarded and selective LAC that most people know. I’d score our experience there as Ok, but not spectacular on the issue of advocacy and the place seemed to have more than a handful of the jerky types. But I have nothing against which to compare, so there’s that too. Mixed bag. I believe it was advantageous that the place was small. OTOH, assignments and tests reflected the reality that the professor could ask a lot of students and so the workload was heavy (which is why I chuckle at the occasional posts that make LACs sound like the place to go for hand holding). If your ND kid doesn’t like to or struggles with writing, LACs aren’t always the best places to be. You do a lot of that at most of those colleges.
Great thread. Thanks, @AustenNut for starting it.
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Of course every kid is different. My son ended up not using accommodations, so didn’t need help navigating professors. He did struggle with the bureaucracy, and, post covid, fell between some cracks. For him a LAC would have been a better choice.
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The biggest problem I see is when families are in denial about how much support and scaffolding they have been providing to the student. They spend tons of time researching campuses and programs; they spend zero time coming to terms with how much support they have been providing in order for their child to make it through HS and on to college.
Deans do NOT show up in your kids dorm room and shake him until he wakes up so he can get to class on time. That does not happen. So if YOU have been habitually waking your kid up because he sleeps through his alarm, it’s time to stop. The Dietician does NOT walk your D down the cafeteria line making sure that in addition to the carbs she loves and the caffeinated beverages she’d live on if she could, she takes a piece of salmon or grilled tofu because a college kid without protein is going to crash eventually. The Housing office won’ show up to do your kids laundry even if the towels smell of mildew, and the bursar doesn’t take your kid by the hand to the ATM to check the balance on the account because your kid forgot to deposit the paycheck last week.
The kids I know IRL who have crashed in college have NOT been unable to compete academically! They’ve struggled- and in many cases failed- at Life 101. And that- coupled with a demanding workload- has created a perfect storm. Going to bed at a reasonable hour. Waking up on time for an early lab. Eating regular meals. Buying an apple at the campus grocery store even when you want a Snickers bar. Changing the sheets on the bed and replacing them with clean sheets.
If your kid is a junior or senior and is not taking control of “Life 101”, get to it. I’'ve got friends with HS seniors who are STILL driving to school once or twice a week with the lunch that got left on the counter, the homework assignment sitting in the printer, or the athletic equipment that was sitting in the front hall. How is your kid going to manage all these things independently if you aren’t transitioning now?
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If your child’s ND manifests in executive dysfunction, you really need to help them forge a path on the life skills front BEFORE college.
Mine did 2 years of boarding school (which included reclassifying and taking an extra year) before college and it made a monumental difference. Boarding school allowed for far greater independence than home but with significant guard rails that won’t exist in college. And now that he’s in college, he is handling life skills as well if not better than NT students who’ve never lived on their own.
If your ND student is a senior and you’re questioning whether they can handle managing these life skills on their own by August, consider a gap year or a year at a local school to help breach the deficit. There are also programs geared to transitioning ND kids to mainstream colleges. Far better than to waste tuition $ for a student who just isn’t ready to navigate all of life independently. Not to mention the demoralizing aspect of feeling like they “failed” at college.
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Eh. My son went to boarding school and can manage life pretty well. But a large school just is easier to fall between cracks. When my son broke his leg, and then needed additional surgery a month later, he got virtually no advice from his advisor, which meant he got into a big mess.
I contrast that with another son’s experience at a LAC – close relationship with advisor, tapped for opportunities . . . I just think if there are any unexpected problems they are easier to navigate at a smaller school.
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Yes, this has been our experience exactly. Small schools are much more nimble in their ability to provide accommodations to students who need them.
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Strongly consider encouraging your child to take a gap year. This was what my spouse and I consider to be the best parenting decision we’ve ever made, with credit also going to our kid as well for having the courage to be open to a slightly different/slower path than their friends. Kids who have ADHD tend to develop essential life skills more slowly, and that extra year can be HUGE, especially if you are able to find options for at least a portion of that time to be spent away from home.
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One option for a gap year to get more maturity and life skills that doesn’t cost any money is Americorps. There are options that are 10-11 months and some that are a year that young adults can do (they also have even shorter ones, I believe). NCCC provides lodging, and they all get a modest stipend for living expenses. They also get an education award that can be used for college, trade school, etc.
Does anyone know of other gap year options where a person can live away from home but that is not very costly? PG years and specialized programs for students with special needs can often be $$$$.
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My son is also at a small LAC and I’m sure it is easier to navigate administrative issues than would be the case at larger institutions. Not to mention, smaller campuses are easier to get to know and smaller class sizes are beneficial too. But I’m not sure if LACs in general are more supportive of ND students - some don’t have (choose to have?) the infrastructure for it.