Aspergers and transitioning to college?

[Janeway]

My son seems to really get his feathers ruffled by any idea of having an outside influence on what he is doing. For example, he hates video classes and internet classes. I have to explain everything to him. But even so, he does not always want that. He is often not open to that. He is quite intelligent and ahead of grade level. But, I think he is going to be held back by his unwillingness to do what anyone else wants. Right now, he wants to play computer. He does not want to do school work. He is bored by math. So, he claims to not understand the math. But when I come back with trying to explain the topics, he won't focus. He doesn't make eye contact really. And in the end, if often turns out that it seems he actually understood it. 

 

He wants to be an engineer. He is ahead of grade level. He is old enough to start dual enrollment this fall. I do not plan to start him in dual enrollment this fall though.

 

Any advice on how to proceed? What to do next? How to prepare him for the next step other than obtaining knowledge?

[8filltheheart]

My son seems to really get his feathers ruffled by any idea of having an outside influence on what he is doing. For example, he hates video classes and internet classes. I have to explain everything to him. But even so, he does not always want that. He is often not open to that. He is quite intelligent and ahead of grade level. But, I think he is going to be held back by his unwillingness to do what anyone else wants. Right now, he wants to play computer. He does not want to do school work. He is bored by math. So, he claims to not understand the math. But when I come back with trying to explain the topics, he won't focus. He doesn't make eye contact really. And in the end, if often turns out that it seems he actually understood it. 

 

He wants to be an engineer. He is ahead of grade level. He is old enough to start dual enrollment this fall. I do not plan to start him in dual enrollment this fall though.

 

Any advice on how to proceed? What to do next? How to prepare him for the next step other than obtaining knowledge?

 

It is a serious concern.  Between our ds's inflexibility and obsessions, he has made a lot of very poor decisions as an adult.  I posted on your other thread about DE that his anxiety was a problem in the higher level courses.  But another issue was that he refused to take classes that he personally felt were not important for his goals.  It did not matter that the classes were required for the degree.  He only wanted to take the classes he thought were important.

 

You cant make them do what they refuse to do.  Our ds is his own worst enemy.  He sabotages himself quite a bit.  At 24 he is finally starting to mature and recognize that many of the issues that were major conflicts in the past were ones where he should have made different choices.  He is starting to think about going back to college, but 3 yrs ago, we refused to pay for any more classes b/c he dug in his heels about what he was willing to do.

[kbutton]

I would ask about ABA. We are finding it really helpful here. I mostly hear about little kid stuff, but our behaviorist can do appropriate plans for my 2e 6th grader as well. She is very vested in helping my son make progress in areas like this.