Best university for student with aspergers?

[Gertygypsey]

I have a 17 year old dd who needs to make a choice about university shortly. We are in a geographically isolated part of the UK so any open days / visits would have to be carefully planned. Dd has high functioning autism, is extremely intelligent and driven but suffers badly with anxiety. She can be quite social (to a point) , and most people don't actually realise she has asd (she does not like anyone knowing this). She is capable of getting the top grades in all her a levels and living independently. A smaller university / campus with good pastoral care / inclusive ethos but with a great reputation for psychology would be perfect. Could anyone recommend a university that might be a good fit?

moosesormeece it is a lovely campus. There is useful advice for prospective students with ASD on Keele website - worth looking at even if considering other unis.

My DS is in first year at St Andrews, he has an Aspergers DX.
St Andrews was the only university he felt comfortable going too although he got offers from all his other choices, admittedly we only applied to Scottish unis so didn't explore the suitability of other unis but St Andrews fulfilled his criteria which were the following:

town rather than city
good department for his chosen subject
small seminar/tutorial groups
catered halls with onsite wardens close to lectures
nightlife based on societies rather than clubbing
cosmopolitan student body (we come from a very small, monocultural town!)
good student satisfaction rating

So far he is doing well academically and making friends (through hobbies mostly but when i picked him up for the holidays yesterday loads of people said hello to him as we went past), he has been to his first ever teenage parties and goes to the pub, his life is really expanding - at a pace he feels comfortable with.

We have met the disability officer, who was very approachable and DS has DLA but he applied because of a physical disability rather than his ASD so didn't delve into provision from that angle. DS decided to see how he got on before accessing help and he has not had any need of support so far bar IT for exams which has been straightforward to sort out.
One thing that has helped is that DS applied to stay in halls for second year, as he didn't feel confident enough to move into private accommodation yet (although a couple of girls did ask him to share with them), and he has secured a nice room for next year. Incidentally he found the hall based social events good as they were tamer than the SU (and he was 17 for the first term so couldn't go out and get plastered anyway!).
I imagine flying would be the most straightforward way to get there, there are so many internationals that there is a shared taxi scheme for getting to and from Edinburgh airport.
It looks isolated on the map but it doesn't take that long to get to from the motorway network (but then i'm only an hour away and would have hesitated if DS had wanted to go to uni in Bristol or such like).

DD has a (recent) diagnosis of Aspergers - would she be likely to get DSA on the basis of that, or would it be only if you had other factors involved as well? She's never had any specific support in school / college, although she does get extra time in exams (not because of the ASD)

Sadie, she will need to go through an assessment of needs to see if she qualifies for DSA. I would say that if she has gone through her studies successfully until now without schools pressing for an assessment long time ago she is unlikely to get DSA but the disability services department of the university can tell you of other ways they may be able to help her.

DSA application is available to any student with additional needs, you just tick the box when applying for Student Finance. You may be required to produce evidence such as in the form of a medical professional letter or Ed Psych report, which ideally you have before starting. However these can be organised through Student Support at the uni , although it can slow down receiving the support because they are often inundated early in the academic year. DSA also involves a needs assessment to discuss specific recommendations and then arrange funding.

When looking at Cambridge I can recommend Jesus College. It's very quiet, off the tourist track, friendly and supportive.

I know you said no central London but my son has terrible anxiety and is awaiting a long overdue diagnosis of ASD and is in his third year at Imperial college at the moment. They have been absolutely fantastic with support. Even when he went for his interview he was met by a member of staff beforehand to discuss ways they could help him through the interview process (Cambridge continued interview questions during a panic attack!!) He can’t do tubes either so has always lived within walking distance of the campus.

It kind of depends what you mean by 'successfully' NotSureThisIsWhatIWant - she was assessed by the Ed psych in primary (who first suggested ASD) and saw the school counsellor pretty much ongoing throughout secondary. I guess 'more-or-less functionally compared to a lot of others given funding situation' is probably a better description IYKWIM.

TBH I think looking at things mentioned above support in terms of eg mentoring, a bit more tutor time, study skills would realistically be more what she needs than funding for printer ink / laptop etc

Thanks for all your responses and uni suggestions - so much to think about . I definitely think she would be entitled to dsa, getting her to apply will be a different story! At least I have some time to work on this with her.

Can I just add that having two at different universities with ASD (and other issues) that the thing they have both found the hardest is what ds calls 'adulting' i.e. cooking, shopping, laundry, cleaning.
Even if they can do the individual task being responsible for doing all of them on top of studying and socialising, can be exhausting. For ds in particular it has tipped him over the edge of coping/not coping at times.

Therefore it is worth looking at catered accommodation (and whether they are also catered at weekends), how much housekeeping is provided, ease of shopping and doing laundry etc.

I would also say you really need to visit universities to get a feel for them. If you can persuade your dd to talk to disability services on these visits too that will be very useful. You get a better feel for what the provision is actually like talking to those involved than you do from the websites.

NoHaudinMaWheest the independent living is what I think DS2 will find most challenging. His domestic skills are still lacking, despite me having encouraged independence since they were small (his younger brother is able to cook for the whole family without assistance or supervision).
We'll be looking for catered accommodation and he might just have to take enough underwear and t-shirts to last between visits home like his older brother does

Yes they both have loads of underwear, socks and tops.

Ds can cook but just can cope with it after a day of classes. He lives on ready meals, pasta with a ready made sauce and the occasional omelette.

I used to be a mentor for students with autism and Royal Holloway was by far the best I worked with in terms of disability support. The campus is also quite, calm and not too big.

Sheffield Hallam and Bath are also renowned for their excellent support for students with autism.

My DD went on the University of Bath Autism Summer School and she would definitely recommend it. I think you need to apply early though as places are limited. She said there was no pressure to apply to Bath.

One issue I'd suggest researching is the amount of group work the course involves. There is a lot on my DD's course, and that is something she has found difficult and has definitely increased her anxiety levels. It may be an inevitable part of a psychology degree, but we didn't think to ask about this at the different university open days.

My daughter is probably going to accept an offer from Durham. She was only diagnosed a few months ago so it's all very new for her and me. The contact I have had with the student disability service there has been really useful. She has applied to a small college and students with asd can start a few days early before everyone else. I think there is an option for asd students to be allowed to live in the college all three years if that helps. Durham is quite a small compact town with a train station, and Newcastle and therefore the airport is close. St Andrews seemed a good fit for her but unfortunately she was rejected. Cambridge Uni was really helpful organising her interviews - there were either side of lunch so she had a break between them. She needs to decided between Nottingham and Southampton for her insurance and again both of these are campus Unis with from what I've heard good pastoral care. Still anxious for her though. She seems to have a naïve view that everything will get better at Uni. I hope for her sake it does but it's not going to be easy. Hope our experience gives you something to think about OP.

Settledinmyways did she do the Bath summer school just before starting university? I contacted them to enquire about DS2 taking part, and they said those who are about to start university get priority over those who are about to start Y13.

I used to worry about DS coping at Uni, I assumed he'd be desperate to come home for breaks ( he found high school exhausting). He has just gone back to uni after slightly grudgingly coming home for 5 days of his spring break! I think it was too dull at home and some of new friends are international students who are staying in halls over the break.

TheFirstOHN Yes, she did do it just before starting university. She tried doing it earlier, but it wasn't running that year as they didn't have funding. Also, my DD took a gap year so that she could do her UCAS application already knowing her results (to avoid the pressure of having to get particular grades). In a way it makes more sense to do it before doing university applications which for most youngsters would be before year13? When my DD did it she said several of the participants hadn't made university applications yet, but maybe as the programme has got more well known, spaces are harder to come by? I do hope your DS gets a summer school place, as it was a real confidence booster for my DD.

Another thing worth looking out for are taster days. These are usually lower key events than the offer holder and open days , so quieter, run by departments and accessible to y11 onwards. Ds did a couple at Kent and RHUL.

Bit late to the party but please avoid Lincoln! I'm in my second year there with AS and currently in the middle of my second disability discrimination case against them. The MH support is appalling and the 'student wellbeing' team doesn't want to know unless it can be fixed in 1 30min counselling session. Canterbury is meant to be good though. I looked at transferring there when Lincoln was being particularly unhelpful.

From personal experience, Oxford and Imperial are great if you are on the spectrum. I appreciate Central London isn't a good fit for your DD, but it might be useful for others reading the thread. Imperial have been really supportive of DS.

Like your DD, DS is very bright and quite social but has anxiety and doesn't like sharing his diagnosis. He wasn't diagnosed until late teens because he is very good at masking. He found reading Temple Grandin's book, The Autistic Brain, and watching Tony Atwood's videos on youtube really helpful with dealing with his feelings about having ASD. Both present autism as a "gift" rather than something to "fix". I think the video he found particularly helpful was "Is Aspergers the next stage in evolution?".

Aspie dd has Exeter as her firm choice. We've been very impressed with their special needs provision so far. She's been awarded DSA and has her assessment today. We're hoping the DSA will pay for autism mentoring.
She and I have been invited to a transition day at Exeter aimed at students with asc.

Would highly recommend Bath. It's a nice-sized campus with a strong reputation for Student Support. They offer a lot of support for students with AS.

Lancaster?

If St Andrews is still in the mix, you can fly and there's a regular bus from Edinnburgh to St Andrews, or train and again a regular bus. We visited in August (obviously students aren't around, but gave a good feel for the place). We stayed in uni accommodation (cheaper than anything else), had a good look around the area/uni buildings independently. We arranged a group talk and walk, had an hour with a student and an hour with admissions (very helpful, and I'm sure they'd give you extra time to discuss your concerns). We also arranged to see a tutor and had over an hour of her time (far more than on open days) talking about the course, looking at course books, DD herself, future ambitions. If you do look into Durham, Cambridge obviously be aware they might not get into their chosen college.