Looking at University

[wickenwoman]

I have a 17 yr old DS who at school. He had all those lovely labels attached to him 'lazy', 'unorganised', and often had bits of work returned with spell 'that' (or some other word) 6 times, he was constantly pulled up on his organisational skills, his inability to read social situations and facial expressions etc. Turns out he's dysgraphic and has Aspergers, the SENCo at secondary school picked it up but it didn't stop the labels sticking sadly. As a consequence he has grown up thinking he is useless and stupid.

I've just been to his first parent's evening at his college where he is studying Animal Management. His tutor opened the meeting by asking him how he felt he'd done, he neg'd himself to the max at which point she shook her head. She said lots of lovely things about him then advised him to think very seriously about taking Zoology at Uni. She said he's more than capable and is currently miles ahead of where they would expect him to be (whos aid obsessions are bad ).

Neither DH or I have any experience of Uni and I have no idea of how to find a good Uni for him. Where do we begin to look. I was so gobsmacked by what I was hearing I didn't even think to ask the tutor. I have emailed her but wanted to start looking this weekend and don't expect to hear back from them until Monday at the earliest.

[Anne]

Good on him


Im glad he has found what he is good at and that others can see his potential. try this site,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...versity_guide/

it may point you ion the right direction.

if not, good old google may help.

[chuckle_monster]

Go on the UCAS website You can search for the zoology courses there and it will tell you where they all are. You can then look on the individual uni's websites to see what the average offers are with regards to grades etc. Well done him

[Hello Kitty]

With regards to Aspergers you might find this link useful. I am currently helping to organise a conference on supporting students with Aspergers in HE, I think there will be a lot of support for him.
Good luck

http://www.autism.org.uk/nas/jsp/pol...?d=528&a=12205

[Pancake01]

First look at the UCAS website to see what courses are available, then look at the unis that offer those courses and weigh up their pros/cons. He might prefer to be on a campus uni, rather than a city one, where everything is all in one place. Check out their student support services etc and contact them to see how they can help with your son's specific needs.

But most important of all is to go and visit the places - you'll get a really good feel of if he will be happy there.

Good luck in finding a place and congratulations on him doing so well at college.

[cherry fizz]

Wickenwoman - start looking at UCAS to see which Unis offer the right course, and then you need the tutor to explain what prediction she can make about his course grades (ie, distinction, merit etc) and what UCAS points that would be equivalent to so he can think about applying for a course in line with his abilities (ie, Zoology at Trinity College Cambridge requires the equiv of at least 3 A grades at A level and masses of reading around the subject for assessment whereas Zoology at Leeds or Manchester might be an A and 2 Bs without interview).
The next step would be getting prospectuses sent from the unis in question and then arranging a visit. They can often arrange a quick interview with the student disability/welfare services as well to discuss provision - ie, on campus accomodation for three years etc.

Hope that helps.