A Strengths-Based Choice for College

My builder son (diagnosed with high functioning autism) started attending the local community college when he was 17 years old in the fall of 2008.  In December of 2010, he earned his Associate in Science degree there.  We chose the community college route for him for several reasons:

• He wouldn’t have to take the ACT/SAT tests
• He could take English-related classes in a strengths-based environment
• He could transfer to the private university he desired to attend

The first reason was so he wouldn’t have to take the ACT/SAT.  His weakness is in English and anything related to it because of autism-related difficulties, and his strength is in math and science.  Although we feel he would have had a high math score, we weren’t sure about science because of the vocabulary-based questions on the test, and he would have probably done average for English. We didn’t feel it would be as advantageous to go this route since it focused on most of his weaknesses and didn’t highlight many of his strengths. Plus, his processing speed is slower, so having a timed test would have added pressure that wasn’t necessary.

The second reason was so he could take the English-related requirements at the local community college for three reasons:

• The difficulty level would probably be less than a state or private college
• He could have the support of his father and me in mentoring him in a way that works best for him
• He could take the courses on-line which works better for him in this area

The third reason was that the private university he wants to attend will accept an Associate of Science degree from a community college as fulfilling their first two year core requirements.  In this way, when he attends a larger and more difficult learning setting, it should mainly be in his strength areas of computer programming and math.  I know, geek city, and he’s proud of it!

My builder son’s  community college experience was very positive because he chose to attend based on a good fit for his particular strengths, weaknesses, and goals. He learned a lot about himself while attending and learned to make decisions based on what matched his learning style. The most important thing for him was that he made it work without accommodations because he knows how he learns best.