<p>My son is an Aspergers (high functioning autism ) student. He loves horses and wants to major in equine studies. His experience in applying to Centenary College in NJ was horrific. Even though they claimed at the open house to have a special needs program - everything they did was to discourage him. Miscommunication, misdirection, delayed responses, and ignoring requests to send emails to us (his parents) instead of to him. And when we finally gave up and pulled his application (he has been accepted to three other colleges) there was no apology or how can we do better in our process so that other students won’t have such a bad time. Any one else have special need student application issues and how are you finding special need support in college?</p>
<p>The most important feedback the admissions office is getting from your experience is that your son is choosing to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>I agree with siliconvalleymom. Spending your money elsewhere speaks volumes. The admissions office needs to know what it is hearing, though, and I would suggest telling the admissions office why your student is going elsewhere if you haven’t already.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised if a college did not send e-mails to parents. The best thing to do with colleges is to open an e-mail account and both your student and you have the login information and not even open up that can of worms. You might want to post on the Disabilities forum as there are posters who have been through the process and can give input into how various colleges “approach” students that need heavy parental involvement. Don’t let one college discourage you if your student is ready to navigate the college setting. If he’s already been accepted by Centenary you could certainly take a moment and let admissions know why he is not attending although you say you pulled the app so might just be water under the bridge or it was not the “right” college to begin with.</p>
<p>I didn’t have issues at the admissions level at my chosen college. The college I went to was chosen almost exclusively with my special needs in mind-- I was aware that I would be able to get all of the supports I knew going in I would need, and that the curriculum was structured in a way that there would be no serious barriers. They were open to discussing these things with me. Unfortunately I could not predict what additional supports I would find I needed once I was already attending, and those needs were not met so well. I went into college with ADHD inattentive and dyscalculia and came out with a high-functioning autism diagnosis on top of that, and the added diagnosis was not something they were equipped to handle. Surprise.</p>
<p>There are a lot of schools that just don’t have a clue when it comes to this kinds of stuff-- even the departments that are hired specifically to know their way around these issues. There are a handful of schools that really handle these issues well, and there’s a whole spectrum in between. I really think all you can do is be prepared for a battle from start to finish and do the best you can along the way.</p>
<p>Something to be prepared for, depending on what kinds of supports you’re looking to get, is that even if you get the disabilities office on your side it doesn’t even necessarily means your student will be getting what they are supposed to-- it doesn’t just depend on the disabilities office. At my university the disabilities office agrees to approve certain accommodations and, if necessary, will intervene to advocate for the student with the professors-- but if the professors just flat out decide to say no, nothing happens. I was supposed to have notetakers in my classes, which at my college is a classmate volunteer that the professor is supposed to arrange-- it takes virtually no effort, they just ask for volunteers and forward email responses to me, and I had one professor last semester that didn’t do it until the week before the midterm, and another that didn’t do it until two weeks before the final. The disabilities office approved my accommodations and set out documentation saying that I should have certain things, but the professors wouldn’t do it and they just ignored contact from the disabilities office. Research into these kinds of things needs to go further than just the disabilities office. You need to find out what the accommodations procedure is from start to finish and make sure all the other players here have a good reputation for students with special needs, too.</p>
<p>I am an alumni of Centenary and was also a special needs student and an equine major and I must say Centenary was the best college for me, I thrived there. Through their special needs program I was able to succeed. My admissions counselor, who I believe is still the special needs counselor, was the most caring woman I have every meet. She was kind, encouraging and knew what she was talking about because she too had children with special needs. I know for a fact that Centenary has many student with Aspergers in their special needs program and all the ones I know of are also doing remarkably well. </p>
<p>What it comes down to is that you as a parent need to figure out the best fit for your child college. If Centenary did not seem to be the right place for your child then that is your decision, but I would not bash the college as they are a very reputable college with knowledgable staff and a wonderful special needs program. I did so well there that I am going on to get my Masters degree now, something I never though possible, but thanks to the wonderful experience I had at Centenary my goals are being reached.</p>
<p>embers 23 ~ I am very sorry that happened to your family, but I have to say this is not the first time I have heard this. I work in the equine industry and about a month ago spoke with a family whose daughter had applied to Centenary as well as another more highly ranked college. The daughter had received her acceptance from the more highly ranked college at least 2 months prior. She was still waiting to hear back from Centenary. If she had the grades to get into the second school, believe me she was a slam dunk at Centenary. The mom told me that dealing with admissions had been very difficult, they could not get the information they needed and were passed from person to person. Centenary is not that big!</p>
<p>Sometimes I don’t think the rest of the college has any idea how the admissions office personnel behaves and interacts and communicates. A program could be the best on the planet, but if the admissions team is bad, many people won’t be able to see past that. In some places (e.g. small towns), the general workforce is not well educated, so the person answering the phone may have bad grammar, a poor attitude, etc. We arrived at one admissions office 45 minutes late (despite leaving our hotel an hour early!) because the directions provided to us were terrible and two different folks in the office could not tell us when we called how to find them on campus. Again, it could have been a fabulous school otherwise, but we arrived very frustrated and thinking badly of the school.</p>
<p>Missypie is ever so right. To the OP: please let the university administration know your experience with the admissions office. Many times policies and amenities are put into place to benefit students and if families are turned off by admissions, good candidates are lost. Once a student goes to college, any interaction with admissions is highly unlikely unless the student seek it. You can work there, for instance or volunteer to to tours, but really, once you are in, the relationship is over.</p>
<p>My best friend during college needed note takers, and as Emaheevul07 wrote, professors were the ones who were supposed to arrange that for her within the class. When that didn’t happen she made it happen herself by speaking up and asking a student she had gotten to know.
If you are capable enough to attend college, that might be a skill to work on so that you are able to advocate for yourself. Parents need to help their students learn this skill, so that once at college they are like most other students - handling a lot without mom and dad to do it for them. I understand the struggle, but maybe the colleges want to see just how much a student can handle to know whether that student is the right fit–it is college after all.</p>