You are so right....this is an enormous void and it's really hard to navigate. My kid has decided to take a few courses at a local community college, but the bigger economics questions about what kinds of work options will be available to her are something that stress me out entirely. I'm hoping that once she gets into the community college here, she'll get better advising. Her high school guidance has been somewhat minimal, a lot of emphasis on applying to college just for the practice of doing so....which isn't so helpful.
You're right--many HS counselors don't know much about community colleges--mainly because kids see them as a last resort in urban/suburban areas like yours. In rural areas, they're the first choice. You need to go talk to your local community college. We're used to dealing with folks with autism--our disabilities services folks across the country are first rate. Not sure which is closest to you in New Jersey--my friend Matt Reed is the dean at Brookfield CC in NJ--his email is deandad@gmail.com. He is an expert on community colleges as well as a nice guy.
Thanks, M. I remember you telling me that you had a number of students in your classes that are on the spectrum. I tucked away that info and it's figuring into my calculous.
I should mention that we have around 600 students on our 9000 student campus enrolled in our disability support services, and the majority of those have some form of autism--I have four this semester alone, and some of them are dual-enrolled HS kids. Really, CCs are designed to handles students like your son.
I hope so. He can handle the classwork, at least in the math and tech area, but I just worry about his social-emotional skills. College is so different from high school that I can't be sure how he'll do there. Still, it's really great to get this info.
You are so right....this is an enormous void and it's really hard to navigate. My kid has decided to take a few courses at a local community college, but the bigger economics questions about what kinds of work options will be available to her are something that stress me out entirely. I'm hoping that once she gets into the community college here, she'll get better advising. Her high school guidance has been somewhat minimal, a lot of emphasis on applying to college just for the practice of doing so....which isn't so helpful.
Hope that your daughter and my son (and the both of us) figure it out. I'm sure we will, but it's going to take a little time.
You're right--many HS counselors don't know much about community colleges--mainly because kids see them as a last resort in urban/suburban areas like yours. In rural areas, they're the first choice. You need to go talk to your local community college. We're used to dealing with folks with autism--our disabilities services folks across the country are first rate. Not sure which is closest to you in New Jersey--my friend Matt Reed is the dean at Brookfield CC in NJ--his email is deandad@gmail.com. He is an expert on community colleges as well as a nice guy.
Thanks, M. I remember you telling me that you had a number of students in your classes that are on the spectrum. I tucked away that info and it's figuring into my calculous.
I should mention that we have around 600 students on our 9000 student campus enrolled in our disability support services, and the majority of those have some form of autism--I have four this semester alone, and some of them are dual-enrolled HS kids. Really, CCs are designed to handles students like your son.
I hope so. He can handle the classwork, at least in the math and tech area, but I just worry about his social-emotional skills. College is so different from high school that I can't be sure how he'll do there. Still, it's really great to get this info.