I Wish I Had Known
When My Son Started College
By Colleen HITTLE
M
y 24-year-old son, Sean, was diag-
nosed with Asperger’s syndrome at
eight years old. He graduated with a
degree in informatics from Indiana
University in Bloomington, IN, in 2017.
Sean is a voracious reader, writer, and
standup comic whose greatest plea-
sure is correcting his mother’s use of the English
language. Now that Sean has successfully complet-
ed his degree, I thought it would be helpful to other
families to share some of the important things I wish
I had known as a parent when he first headed off to
college:
1. Sean’s reason for going to college was to actu-
ally LEARN, not to earn a degree, socialize, or
date. Sean attended IU for six years and never
attended a college football game, basketball
game, or ‘barn dance.’ Sean graduated with-
out regrets, on his terms, on his schedule.
2. He would not self-report about class work,
grades, work, or academic progress toward
graduation accurately—not because he didn’t
care, but because his reason for attending
college was to LEARN, not to get an ‘A’ (see
#1 above). Sean rarely remembered to check
his grades at all and was astonished to learn
he had made the Dean’s List. Oh, and then he
FORGOT he had made the Dean’s List. I doubt
he knew his overall GPA or even cared.
3. I needed to be on a first name basis with his
academic advisor. You and your child will need
to get a release signed with the university so
you can access academic records and add/drop
options. That way, you can be included on the
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 65 |
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