Wish List of Accommodations for Asperger’s/ADD Student

Applying to College Learning Differences and Challenges - LD, ADHD
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Hello,

Seeking input for a list of college accommodations to request for S25 incoming engineer with high-functioning ASD (Asperger’s) and ADD with social skills and mild exec functioning weaknesses. Strong student, mainstreamed in HS, no resource room. Has an IEP now with accommodations including preferred seating, extra time for tests, alternate testing location, chunking assignments, hand-selected schedule, brainstorming support for writing.

We have asked schools for a comprehensive list of accommodations they offer, without success. Would like to compile a list of potentially helpful college accommodations so we know what to ask for. Here is our initial list but seeking other ideas:

Priority Registration
No night exams
Single dorm room or hand-matched roommate
Assignment to small dorm building / learning community
Air Conditioned room
Extra time in tests
Writing center requirements waived (no first draft to seek help)
Alternate Location of tests

Thanks

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The college after admission would want to see a neuropsych report and/or other medical report.

The neuropsych report should list these items and ways and accommodations that are appropriate.
Colleges usually want medical or psych evaluations to justify requests for accommodations- not a parent’s wishlist.

Colleges provide “reasonable accommodations” and have a review process.
Here is an example

“ We gather info from various sources about your disability, experiences, and challenges. During the interactive process, your input and external documentation help us to identify appropriate, individualized accommodations. This process allows us to understand how your disability impacts your participation in academic courses, programs, UMD facilities, and more….

ADS engages in a collaborative, interactive process guided by the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) to meet the unique needs of each individual. Third-party documentation helps ADS verify a diagnosis that qualifies as a disability, understand its impact in academic or housing environments, and make informed decisions about accommodations. These accommodations aim to support your experience without altering essential aspects or outcomes of courses or campus life. To help the Disability Specialist Team understand your needs, we request that documentation be submitted before your appointment to help expedite the registration process.
”

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Peer success mentors are a very good option, where available. I’m less convinced that special room options, especially a single room, make sense, since we found that being pushed into establishing friendships and engaging in collaboration with others, rather than retreating to solitary activities like gaming, was important. Making a successful social transition to college is at least as important as academic success.

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In my (limited) experience, you will not get such a list.

In some parts of the country, an air conditioned dorm is par for the course. In others, they are available-- and with appropriate medical documentation, your kid will get one. But if it’s a college in Maine for example, where many of the dorms are not air conditioned, the college isn’t going to guarantee you upfront, pre-application, that they can make sure your kid is in one.

Etc. With documentation- yes. Just as a shopping list? No. And “small dorm” is a relative concept. At many colleges, freshmen are housed together and clustered in the same general location on campus. If this doesn’t work for your kid- again, with documentation- there are other options. But perhaps you should be focused on colleges which use the “house” system from the git-go?

How proactive has your kid been on working with the guidance team, individual teachers, administration, on the accommodations up until now? This is key for the college transition. There is no professor on the planet who is going to show up in your kid’s dorm room to review the checklist of “here’s what’s due in the next two weeks” to make sure he’s on track. So making sure your kid knows that he needs to be in charge of his own needs once he’s in college is important.

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Agree with others. Accommodations will depend on what the professional recommendations are and what each college can reasonably provide.-- not a wish list you create.

Since the availability of accommodations could be a factor in college selection, you and your student can set up a meeting with the Office of Disability Services at the top two or three schools where there is an affordable acceptance prior to making a final college selection.

Please be aware that at the college level your student will need to self-advocate. Typically, a student will get a letter from the Office of Disability Services for classes each semester stating the accommodations and then the student must talk to each professor and make mutually acceptable arrangements for the stated accommodations (ex. extra time on exams, separate testing location, etc.).

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And you will need to provide documentation showing why your student needs these accommodations.

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100% agree. I did say professional recommendations. Perhaps I was not clear enough but requests for accommodations must be based on and documented by a professional/neuropsych evaluation.

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Are you saying your student should be able to seek help writing the first draft? Is that what you mean here?

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My experience it depends on the college. Some will bend over backwards to get the IEP school accommodations and have people to help and others couldn’t help as much. You can add an air conditioner at a cost at most schools per semester.
As far as having a single usually with a medical note. Find out from the school what their perimeters are. It might not be for his conditions. Things like severe asthma etc.

Things like preferential seating is about showing up early. I would think this might be more attainable. As the years go on usually the classes get smaller. I don’t think any school will hold the middle seat with his name on it. But students understand and getting a closer seat might just be about advocating for one. Were were told students need to be able to self advocate. Need some extra things done. Send the accommodations list to “each” professor then set up meetings with each to discuss. We found most schools wanted to help in some way. At Michigan they told us “We want your child to be in the best environment to learn. If you had X to get accepted her let’s see how we can continue that. We want your child to be successful”. Not evey school was like that.

Timed vs non timed test. To our surprise even though my kids IEP was never used in college. Didn’t feel he needed it. But the one time he had to take a test out of the normal class time it was in the proffesors office. But as we were told getting extra time if needed wasn’t an issue. So you need to find out are you talking 15 extra minutes or another hour? It could be different for every test also.

I would start to have serious talks with the different schools to see what is realistic in your case. Good luck.

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One more factor (sorry for the multiple posts)- it’s worth keeping an eye on the professor vs. adjunct numbers as well. One of my siblings is an adjunct- reports that there is very little flexibility in terms of what to offer a kid who needs to take an exam at a different time, place, etc. Sib does not have an office at this U; sib does not have the flexibility to stay until 7 pm proctoring an exam; sib has very little pull with the administration in terms of getting “extras”. The deal is- you show up, you teach your class, you grade the papers and exams, you get your paycheck. It’s not like a professor who can typically be in his/her office or lab when not teaching so it’s relatively easy to schedule things outside of class time…

Just a consideration. An adjunct-heavy U is going to be an added complication. An adjunct may be teaching at three different colleges during the semester, so even with the best of intentions, just doesn’t have flexibility baked into the calendar…

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This SOOOOOO varies by student and class. For some students, it means sitting front and center. For others, it means sitting at the back to reduce distraction from noise behind the student.

Plus…in most classes in college, seats aren’t assigned. So “flexible seating” might work better…so the student can move if there are distractions in the first seat they choose.

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Many colleges do offer students needing testing accomodations (ex. extra time) the option to take exams in the Office of Disability Services. In these cases, the professor does not need to be physically present as the exam will be proctored by the Office of Disability Services.

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I agree about peer support and that social success is important.

Some engineering departments have extra tutoring and support, and others do not. At larger universities some older faculty may have more of a sink or swim mentality and need to be prodded by the Student Disabilty Office to provide accommodations.

On the other hand,smaller colleges with all tenured faculty may be ideal, in that the faculty would get to know the student and the student’s attendance (or lack thereof) would be noticeable.

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Your son will get no accomodations without a recent full evaulation. Colleges have to make reasonable accommodations, not fulfill every item on a wishlist. It’s probably a good idea to google a list of colleges with good student disability offices and start there.

Also, without wishing to sound harsh, your son will have to learn to navigate the adult world without every single thing he needs, and without your help. I personally would ensure he has an active role in this aspect of his college admissions process. He needs to start learning that once he is in the working world, he will have to stand on his own two feet and may not have all the resources that he is accustomed to.

My own son’s experience might have some relevance, though he has a different issue. He chose not to seek any accomodations in college as he felt he needed to learn to go without them. He is now on his second career building job since graduating in '23. He definitely struggled with some classes, but it worked for him. Sample of one. Best of luck to your son.

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I have one who is eligible for accommodations but has never used one. He’s supposed to meet with his disability coordinator every semester. Parents are definitely not part of the equation. I’ve never heard of a/c being an accommodation for ADHD. I’ve had kids at 5 publics and 1 public, 1 in the southeast where every room has a/c, the others had combinations, none allowed window units for extra $. My son’s therapist submitted a letter along with my son’s neuropsychological evaluation and the college contacted my son and gave him a list of his accommodations.

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And lastly, your son will need to be good personal advocate to get his accommodations in college. There is no case manager who will be there to make sure this happens.

Your son should have a transition plan as part of his IEP…and in my opinion, this needs include self advocacy.

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I would include extra time on assignments if the professional agrees.

For my kids, I wrote a letter for the professionals to sign, in which I listed the desired accommodations (after researching them). Not a single professional minded that I did this and in fact seemed happy to just sign it. They don’t always know all the accommodations tbat are possible.

College offices of Disability/Accessible Education offices provide letters to students to give to professors, saying that they are registered with the office. In our experience, one school did include accommodations in the letter but two did not. No school provided diagnosis to teachers but professors have access to it in the file.

It is often up to the student to negotiate with the professor. Advisors, deans, medical folks can all help. In fact, advisors and deans were more of a resource than the Office of Disabilities, which in my opinion often has more of a filter function.

It takes time to figure out how each school works and things can be bumpy the first year. The letter signed by a professional , with a list of accommodations, can come in handy for advocacy but often professors don’t see it. And yes most of this is up to the student: parental involvement when there are problems can certainly be a nudge to a dean but it is expected that the kid will handle things.

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I totally get this. My point is there isn’t going to be a seat reserved per se. But at most college after a few day’s or longer it kinda seems kid’s sit around the same place. I am sure if he needs a certain location getting a front and center seat in the first few rows probably isn’t that hard. Just might have to self advocate for that. I think its easier at smaller sized class rooms.

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Maybe… My sons big ten most classes the professors knew my kid’s name. Also their resources were really unbelievable. My daughters tiny Lac was the same.

But definitely talking to each school and seeing their responses are telling

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Speaking here with an S25 engineering applicant with ASD and a senior daughter at a T20 school who is a notetaker for students with disabilities, it depends upon the strength and resources of your college’s disability program.

Some schools will provide notetakers, while others may provide notetaking technologies. Most provide extra time for tests in a quieter environment. However, many of the top schools (engineering and otherwise) will not offer extended time on assignments, given the rigor of the curriculum. I’m unsure about accommodations, as we’re just starting on this path ourselves.

I did ask ChatGPT the following query:
Rank the schools with autism support, limited only to national organizations and autism organizations: (insert list of schools applying to)

I then asked the same question, but for disability support:
Rank the schools with disability support, limited only to national organizations and autism organizations

With the first query, it ranked the schools in the following categories. The disability support Tiers were similar:

Tier 1: Comprehensive Autism Support Programs

These institutions offer specialized, structured programs specifically designed for students with autism, providing comprehensive support across academic, social, and independent living skills.

Tier 2: Strong Disability Support with Autism-Specific Resources

These universities have robust disability services and offer resources or programs that cater to students with autism, though they may not have specialized programs as extensive as those in Tier 1.

Tier 3: General Disability Support Services

These universities offer general disability support services but may not have specialized programs specifically for students with autism.

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