Pre-college program for ASD/ADHD senior-helpful?

[Anonymous]

Profile: high school senior, hopeful engineering major. Big state schools where he wants to go and has been accepted. Great grades up until senior year but with massive involvement by me. Massive-double checking, time management, crafting emails, etc. DS has pushed back and wants to do everything on his own with silence from us so no supports his senior year. His grades have gone down but aren’t terrible. He has all A’s except a B in AP chem and a c+ in AP CALC. But, for sure if he had these grades when he applied he would not have gotten into these engineering programs at these schools. He misses assignments, probably still hasn’t figured out best ways to study for his brain, etc. but, again-not terrible. he also is resistant to his ASD diagnosis and had variois executive functioning coaches for years with little of it sticking.

He really wants to go to those schools and wouldn’t like it but would probably agree to go to a pre-college programs like Landmark which would reinforce executive functioning and study skills. I just don’t know if they are realistic in helping in such a short period of time. Any experience would be welcome.

[Anonymous]

I think even a short period can make a difference. But he might be at a higher skill level than Landmark is intended for.

Does he understand he can lose his place in college if his grades slip? I think for an engineering major a C+ in Calc would be concerning and you need to intervene.

But it's cheaper for him to learn hard lessons in high school than college.

[Anonymous]

A family member had a great experience at Landmark’s summer program. In addition to the skills learned, kids earn college credit. If he can pick a course that counts as a distribution requirement he can take one less course first semester to ease the adjustment.

I would also have him take Chem and Calculus again, regardless of AP scores, to ease the transition and let him focus on the executive functioning piece and not so much on challenging new content the first couple semesters.

[Anonymous]

OP - Yes have DS take advanced APs again in college to really learn the information. High school is a joke when even students in AO classes can retake a test ti get a higher grade.
Also if you know your son has a weak teacher in a core subject another reason to retake in college.

[Anonymous]

I would spend the money a pre-college program costs on support in college. Our kids have a hard time generalizing, so getting support in real time with actual college classes would be more valuable than trying to teach those skills in isolation. For my kid, at least.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think that’s good for his level of functioning. I agree with yes money on supports in college. Also, he’s doing okay without any help! He will have bumps in the road whenever he starts but I think it’s a very good thing to let him experience some of that now during senior year rather than first semester of college. A pre college program is not going to change his brain and executive function to a meaningful degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would spend the money a pre-college program costs on support in college. Our kids have a hard time generalizing, so getting support in real time with actual college classes would be more valuable than trying to teach those skills in isolation. For my kid, at least.

This. Pre-college programs are notoriously expensive. Invest in a good Exec Function coach for your kid.

[Anonymous]

Does any of the colleges he wants to enroll in have a summer start option?