<p>Sbjdorlo. Cal poly slo offers a bs in graphic communication – no portfolio required. Did you look at Cal Luthern? Or RIT? No portfolio for either. </p>
<p>Sbjdorlo- S decided on majoring in Graphic design late in the game. He did not have a portfolio so that did eliminate some programs including Cal Poly. Everyone raves about Cal Poly but I think for a kid with disabilities the number of required classes can be daunting and there seems to little room for exploration.
My S’s program was fine arts based and print design focused. No web design. I think it has actually helped him when he has been job searching. So many young people are so focused on the computer web design that they don’t have the creativity. There are still many graphic design jobs that want the designer to be able to do print work. S has learned web design and coding through on the job training.
I know that many are recommending large schools since your S is undecided but I found that for my LD child a small program fit his needs better. At his smaller school his professors knew him and were willing to cut him some slack in areas of his weaknesses if he could demonstrate knowledge of the material in another way. My other 2 went or are at large public schools that also have pros and cons.</p>
<p>Austinmshutri, IMO student visual processing disorders respond better to tx targeting the specific dx. With the goal of tx generalizing over to the accedemic subject. Trying to kill two birds with one stone (LD tx & tutoring using the same source material) is the normal in most school based ieps. IMO the primary reason why school based ieps are statistically less effective . </p>
<p>Ucbalum, you ask “why bother with the high school ap”. Because the high school ap should also in operate developmentally appropriate material in addition to teaching to the ap test. </p>
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<p>If the student can handle true college courses, then the college courses are developmentally appropriate for that student, so high school AP courses which cover the same material at a slower pace would be less developmentally appropriate for such an advanced student.</p>
<p>mom60, yeah, I wonder about not having enough smaller schools. That might be a big mistake on our part; my son has expressed no preference either way. I just felt that a mid-sized (rather than large) university would offer the best of both worlds, but you may be right that a smaller school would be more nurturing. He definitely is used to the smaller class sizes of the community college, for sure. But then, all high schoolers are used to having smaller class sizes. Still cogitating this.</p>
<p>As a total aside (sort of)-I am an ex-public school teacher with two current and valid California teaching credentials. My second credential is in Communicative Disorders. Basically, it means I taught deaf/deaf-blind/hard of hearing and learning disabled children.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that it necessarily prepared me to guide my own, but the huge advantage I believe I had was that I was flexible-had to be-as a special ed teacher. I designed my own curriculum and figured out what worked for each student.</p>
<p>I’ve tried to do the same as a homeschool parent. It’s not a perfect science, to be sure, and sure I’ve made some mistakes. My oldest was easy. I just followed his loves and found resources for him; he ate it up.</p>
<p>This son has had so many hurdles, it’s been a much more meandering road with detours along the way.</p>
<p>We believe in him, and our hope is that he’ll find a place that really appreciates his creativity and where he can fully develop all his ideas (or at least some of them). </p>
<p>And as I’ve said all along, if community college is where he ends up, that’s a totally acceptable option. </p>
<p>Re. APs: My oldest son took a total of 6 AP exams. 5 of them he took after taking community college classes or an audited university class. For the most part, they were very good prep for the AP exam. Ironically, my son got credit for more of his community college classes at MIT than he did for his AP exams. </p>
<p>Oh, and my oldest visited, 3 of the 10 schools to which he applied before he applied to them. So 7 of the schools he applied to, he hadn’t visited. After he was accepted, he visited 3 more of them. He never did visit four of his schools.</p>
<p>So I guess I come from that perspective. It didn’t seem to hurt him to do it that way, and it saved us a whole lot of money.</p>
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<p>This sounds like edu-speak justification for why advanced kids should be denied appropriate acceleration based on actual abilities. If a student is capable of college material at a college pace at a younger age, why would one insist on forcing them to comply with what is developmentally appropriate for other kids, but not appropriate for them?</p>
<p>Schools are designed to meet the statistical middle by age. Outliers like gifted and 2E kids are often poorly served in the school system bc their needs are not met in a way that allows them to blossom to their full potential at their own pace. Many parents of 2e and gifted kids actually start homeschooling precisely for that reason.</p>
<p>As a parent of both gifted and 2E kids, I know that “operating in a developmentally appropriate way” means meeting the needs of the individual student. Personally, in our homeschool that looks absolutely nothing like ps methodology. It sounds like the OP has found a similar path for helping her ds excel. Good for her!</p>
<p>Another small/medium sized school your son might want to consider is University of Tulsa. He could apply for the Presidential scholarship. There is still time. They have generous financial aid. My son (with similar scores, but weaker ECs than OPs kid) did not get the scholarship, but was offered full tuition. </p>
<p>The op is a very real, very bright, resourceful, well-informed, exceptionally kind and generous poster that was of great help to our family during our S '13s college search. Her S '12 had so much in common with our son that I kept coming across her posts everywhere. It was immensely helpful following in her footsteps and she took the time to continue to help with very informative pms. (Good grief, her S '12 is at MIT and ours is at Stanford. They both had wildly successful admission processes, no small part due to sbj’s efforts!) But every child is different and things change so in some ways, it is like starting over. Ironically, I came across this thread, looking at some similar issues with our S '16, so here we go again! I just wish the tone here could be a bit more respectful, overall. She is only trying to look for options for her son, really- no hidden agenda, I am sure. Isn’t that why we are all hanging out here?</p>
<p>@sbj- Hi! I took a year off other than an occasional check-in. S '13s senior year was exhausting. I’m sure you can relate. You have mostly received very good advice. You may not remember, but we did have youngest D at CMC. She loved her time there, stayed in sub-free housing the last year to particularly focus on her thesis but did fine in regular housing the rest of the time. No pressure to drink. The Claremonts feel more like a mid-sized college with lots of opportunities. She had friends at all 5Cs, ate up at Mudd a lot, music at Pomona. They have joint Christian groups, sports and many other clubs. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. CMC really stresses leadership and being week-informed in a political/ current events kind of way. They like movers and shakers. But they have many ways to show that outside of econ and gov…the English dept is top-notch. So is psych and Keck sciences. S '13 applied and was admitted and as you may remember, was planning on majoring in physics, so they like all kinds.</p>
<p>Oh, still to sbj- I don’t want to throw a damper on anything really, because I believe that what folks have been saying about drinking/party culture is largely right on the mark. I will say, we did research this extensively for many reasons, and I will add that I would agree with the person who said W&L would probably not be a suitable choice. Again, if you want more details at this point, let me know. Thanks again for everything, best of luck to you and your family and I hope to ‘see’ you again. Are you hanging out on the class of '15 thread?</p>
<p>One more thing re the post above-we have a nephew at Tulsa on a full ride. He is white with stats comparable to your S '15. They really want regional diversity. (He is from the West coast too.) Most of the kids come from the Texas-Oklahoma-Missouri area. It is a smallish private university with Presbyterian (I think) ties. Nephew loves it there. He loved St. Olaf too but it was expensive. Lots of engineers at Tulsa. Wonderful, supportive, friendly place/people. If there is time to check it out, it could be a very good idea.</p>
<p>Hi @critter ! So good to hear from you. I can only assume your son is doing great at Stanford! Thank you for your kind words of support. It’s all about learning, isn’t it?</p>
<p>I’ve tossed CMC in and out of the ring, but I really feel like it wouldn’t be the right place for my son, and he has no preference on it one way or another. While he really enjoyed his political philosophy, econ, govt, world and US history classes taught at his homeschool co-op, he really isn’t one to follow politics and the like too closely. It’s not that he’s apathetic and doesn’t know what’s going on, but I’m not sure he’s a “mover and a shaker” in that way.</p>
<p>And yes, I agree about W&L-not the right fit.</p>
<p>I do like the suggestion of Tulsa. Since they have rolling admissions and no essay, my son and I can talk about this some more after the new year. I wish they had a few more creative type majors, but they do at least have film, music and some interesting certificate programs. And a free app until Jan. 15th. :-)</p>
<p>I feel a bit silly encouraging my son to make his list any bigger at this point-yikes. There’s a big chart on the wall, and now we can really take a look at schools, location, major, size, and just begin to assess everything including scholarship essays that have yet to be written and changing any majors for the UCs/Cal States.</p>
<p>I have been on the 2015 list-lots of early good news there-an amazing bunch of students represented.</p>
<p>I wish your S '16 the best. Good that you’re starting early, right? :-p</p>
<p>I may have missed it, but has anyone here mentioned vocational rehabilitation? Each state has a vocational rehabilitation division (I work for Illinois). With your son’s “disabilities”, they may help with his training expenses 
It is definitely something to consider! </p>
<p>ILDRS, vocational rehab used to pay for undergrad college back in the day. That is not usually the case any longer…Unless this is retraining necessary for a client to get a job. </p>
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<p>@momneeds2no: I’m having trouble following your posts, partly because I’m unfamiliar with your edu-speak. What does “tx targeting the specific dx. With the goal of tx generalizing over to the accedemic subject.” mean? What are your opinions based on? Are you an educator or learning disabilities specialist?</p>
<p>^^Okay, tx means treatment…so you’re saying students with learning issues (like dyslexia) do better when the specific symptom is treated separately from the academic subject? In my experience, that method will slow students down so far academically that it will make catching up to their peers an almost insurmountable task. That’s no better than your suggestion to put these kids into school and let them “struggle” and get a “C.” When that happens, they don’t have the academic foundation to succeed in that subject. A “C” this year turns into a “D” in subsequent courses. Some students fail altogether. I think it’s much more effective for parents to design their own curriculum, which is what I suspect OP did, and remediate through the use of whatever academic materials are appropriate for the grade level their child is in that year. Dyslexics who are just beginning remediation understand a far higher level of material than they can read. Why not target the skills using higher level material? </p>
<p>I do think it’s important that these students cast a wide net. Support services at schools should be considered right along with majors, costs, size, and location.</p>
<p>Throwing kids in the deep end and hoping they’ll swim works sometimes. But sometimes it fails in a big way. Intensive one-on-one tutoring is the gold standard for treating learning disabilities. I can’t imagine why someone would criticize a mother for having her son get tutoring to help him in math. And, obviously, in this case it worked. </p>
<p>Definitely the OP would be well advised to consider what support services her son will need, and make sure that the colleges he applies to will offer those services.</p>
<p>I question whether that poster understands gifted or 2E kids. It is that attitude that sends shivers down my spine at the thought of where my kids would have ended up if left in the system to be educated. I do not want to think about how a severely dyslexic, highly gifted math student would fare. How would the ability to do high school level math in elementary school be handled when the student couldn’t read the corresponding word problems independently but could absolutely solve them independently if they were read to them? Would the ability to complete the basic high school math sequence prior to high school even have been acknowledged or would the “statistical avg” of " not ready for alg prior to age x" mean they would have suffered from devastating boredom in math while struggling with reading/writing making them dislike school from every direction.</p>
<p>I would guess that reading the word problems would be extreme accommodations invalidating the mathematical ability. Or that alg up was developmentally inappropriate for children that age.</p>
<p>Sooooo glad I was the one to make the decisions. By high school being successful and achieving college equivalent work across the board in every subject including writing while advanced college level work in math/science was our real world outcome for our older 2e kids and a love for learning was always encouraged and nurtured. </p>
<p>The idea that educating a child where their skills are and encouraging successful outcomes is somehow extreme and damaging their ability to cope is so far removed from our reality and outcomes that I can’t fathom the disconnect.</p>
<p>Dismiss homeschooling, but I’ll take our outcomes for our kids over the alternative any day.</p>
<p>Just wanted to give an update on my son’s pre-calc grade-he got a B! I’m so happy for him! I don’t know where he’ll end up, but I am so very proud of him.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son. :)))
This is awesome - precalc is definitely no piece of cake.</p>
<p>I’ll answer how my severely dyslexic, highly gifted math student was treated in elementary school…left bored senseless in the “middle” math group, because her reading was several grades behind, and “they have to be in the same level math and reading groups.” Oh…that makes so much sense…said no one ever…one teacher even had the audacity to show me their math ranking placement list, where she was 3rd out of the entire grade. These are the kind of senseless things that kill a child’s curiosity and make parents hate the educational system.</p>
<p>A wonderful 6th grade teacher let her spend a hour/day to teach herself independently all the math the “smart” kids had been taught the previous years, and she’s been on the advanced track since then.</p>