• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Accomodations for autism in school

Sab

Well-Known Member
Hi humans :)

I recently decided to go back to college after being out of school for more than 2 years and out of «in-person» school for around 10 (I have 2 online degrees). School used to be really difficult for me and I still feel very anxious when I'm in person in a class context because of there being a lot of people and because of having to interact. It just always felt like too much (having to absorb info while being around people or having to participate in class).

Anyway, now that I have an official diagnosis (I was diagnosed with ASD last January), I am thinking of asking for support and accomodation for my needs at my new school. I am wondering if anyone here has gone through that process of asking for accomodations for special needs? What kinds of support did you ask for? What kind of accomodations were you granted? Was there any negative aspect to coming out at school?

I feel pretty anxious about this big shift in my life. It is very different from the life I live now (mostly at home). I am also excited about learning new skills but mostly am scared of everything social, especially since I really struggled in the past.

Thanks in advance!

Sab
 
It's a double-edged sword. Every college has a Disability Support Dept. You just register there. You can choose if your Profs know or not. This means people know and that sucks. But you do get supports. It's worth it.
 
Hi Sab you may get great support and accomodation to support your learning you might not, i never had this situation as my diagnosis was late in life, i have experienced problems within employment when i've declaired my Autism as some N/T people just don't understand it and have labelled and discriminated, i consider now that my hypersensitivity and reactive nature also came to play in how they reacted to me. Joining here has taken me on a journey of ME discovery and has contributed to a little more self acceptance and knowledge that i have a choice when i 'mask' my Autism and when i'm ME, i'm no longer happy to allow others to define how choose to do that for myself, so my advice is get others views, know you, and good luck with your decision.
 
Hello Sab :) So I applied for and got support during my 3 years at university back in 2011. We were encouraged by the education and admissions body here in the UK (UCAS) to get directly in contact with the college's disability/mental health and wellbeing support team to discuss what I needed. I had an appointment and an assessment (to determine what level of financial help I could get). I asked for support for the course in ways of help with organization and assignments etc and was granted a personal tutor for the entirety of the course. I was also given time extensions on some assignments as well as all examinations (plus my own space to do said exams which helped immensely). My professors were all informed should any problems come up, and the rest of my help was financial (subsidized accommodation for first year but I commuted so I didn't need this, provision of materials for study like a laptop, printer and accessories (voice-recorder for lectures).
I can't say that there too many negatives if I'm honest. The classes were relatively small and although my college really pushed public speaking by way of presentations etc I had great support from not only my tutor but the disability team throughout. I didn't really come out to too many people, but I know I wasn't the only one there and I guess being in a place of learning and studying something I loved made everything easier.
I hope you get on with your own applications successfully - good luck to you!
 
I had support, I also have a degree too. The big thing was mandatory tutor/study time, out of class exams and untimed exams. ;)
 
I think every school is different. I used to have much anxiety but I didn't ask for accommodations so I don't have an experience to share.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom